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FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


■?&&& 


The  American  Deer. 


See  page  306. 


FOUR-FOOTED  AMEPJCANS 


AND   THEIR   KIN 


BY 

MABEL   OSGOOD   WRIGHT 

EDITED    BY 
FRANK   M.    CHAPMAN 

ILLUSTRATED   BY 
ERNEST   SETON   THOMPSON 


Weto  fgorU 
THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON:   MACMILLAN  &   CO.,  Ltd. 
1898 

All  rights  reserved 


CorYRiGiix,  1S93, 
By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Norton  ot)  $rrss 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  -  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


To 
WILLIAM  T.   HORNADAY 

DIRECTOR    OF    THE    NEW    YORIC    ZOOLOGICAL    PARK 

2H}fe  3So0k  is  ©etitcatrti 

BY  THE   AUTHOR 

IN   RECOGNITION   OF    HIS    EFFORTS    TO   PRESERVE    THE 

LIVING    AMERICAN    MAMMALS    WHERE    THEY 

BIAY   BE    KNOWN    TO    THE    CHILDREN 

OF    FUTURE    GENERATIONS 


SCENE: 
Orchard  Farm   and  Twenty  Miles  around. 

TIME: 
Fall  until  Spring. 

CHARACTERS: 

Dr.  Roy  Hunter,  a  naturalist. 

Olive,  the  Doctor's  daughter. 

Nat  and  Dodo,  the  Doctor's  nephew  and  niece. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blake,  the  parents  of  Nat  and  Dodo. 

Hap,  a  lame  country  hoy. 

Mammy  Bun,  an  old  colored  nurse  and  cook. 

Rod,  the  farmer. 

Olaf,  a  sailor  and  fisherman. 

Nez  Long,  a  charcoal  burner  and  woodsman. 

Toinette,  Nez'  wife. 

Quick,  a  fox  terrier. 

Mr.  Wolf,  a  St.  Bernard  dog. 


Explanation.  —  Dr.  Hunter,  after  travelling  for  many 
years,  returned  to  his  old  home  at  Orchard  Farm,  with  his 
daughter  Olive,  aged  seventeen,  and  Mammy  Bun.  He 
invited  Nat  and  Dodo,  who  had  always  lived  in  the  city,  to 
spend  the  summer  with  him,  so  that  they  might  learn  about 
outdoor  things,  and  told  them  the  story  of  the  birds. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blake  came  for  the  children  in  the  autumn, 
and  they  expected  to  return  to  the  city  to  school ;  but  Dr. 
Hunter,  who  was  always  making  delightful  surprises,  arranged 
for  the  whole  family  to  spend  the  winter  at  the  Farm.  AVhat 
they  did,  and  how  they  became  acquainted  with  the  Four- 
footed  Americans,  is  told  in  this  story, 
vii 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

CHAPTEE   I 

PAGE 

In  the  Pasture  ..........         1 

CHAPTER   II 
The  Animal  Tree       .........       11 

CHAPTER   III 
Waffles  and  a  Walk       ........       22 

CHAPTER   IV 
Climbing  the  Animal  Tree       .......       31 

CHAPTER   V 
An  Autumn  Holiday  ........       41 

Woodchucks,  Muskrats,  etc. 

CHAPTER   VI 

Out-door  Cookery      .........       60 

CHAPTER   VII 
Camp  Saturday  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .82 

CHAPTER  VIII 
Explanation  Night     .........       94 

The  Brotherhood  of  Beasts. 

CHAPTER  IX 
An  Invitation      .         .         .         .         .         .         ,         .         .         .110 


X  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   X 

PAGE 

Monarciis  in  Exile     .........     115 

The  American  Bison. 

CHAPTER   XI 
Rabbit  Tracks    ..........     137 

Wood  Hare  —  Varying  Hare — Jack  Rabbit  —  Marsh  Hare 

—  Pika,  Little  Chief,  or  Whistling  Hare. 

CHAPTER   XII 
The  Winter  Woods   .........     155 

Trails  and.  Trapping. 

CHAPTER   XIII 
Nez  Long's  Menagerie       ........     174 

The   Little  Fur-bearers  —  Otter  —  Skunk  —  Little   Striped 
Skunk  —  Weasel  —  Sable  —  Fisher  —  Wolverine  —  Mink 

—  Raccoon,  etc. 

CHAPTER   XIV 

Foxes  and  Snow-shoes        ........     194 

Red  Fox  —  Gray  Fox  —  Arctic  Fox. 

CHAPTER    XV 
Wolf  ! 212 

The  Timber  Wolf,  and  the  Coyote,  or  Prairie  Wolf. 

CHAPTER   XVI 

Cousins  of  Cats 223 

Puma — Ocelot  —  Wildcat,  also  the  Civet  Cat,  which  is  no 
Cat  at  all. 

CHAPTER   XVII 

Three  Hardy  Mountaineers 238 

The    Grizzly   Bear  —  Big  Horn   Sheep  —  Rocky   Mountain 
Goat. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER   XVIII 

PACE 

On  the  Plains     ..........     254 

The  Pronghorn  or  Antelope  —  Prairie  Dog — Coyote  and 
Badger. 

CHAPTER    XIX 

Under  the  Polar  Star      ........     270 

The  Woodland  Caribou  —  Musk  Ox  —  Polar  Bear. 

CHAPTER   XX 

A  Sealskin  Jacket  at  Home    .......     282 

The  Walrus  —  Sea  Lion  —  Sea  Bear  or  Fur  Seal  and  the 
Harbor  Seal. 

CHAPTER   XXI 

Horns,  Prongs,  and  Antlers    .......     298 

Elk  —  American  Deer  —  Growth   and    Difference   between 
Horns  and  Antlers  explained. 

CHAPTER   XXII 

Nez'  Big  Moose .        .        .309 

CHAPTER   XXIII 
Fish  or  Flesh 320 

Manatee  —  Sperm     Whale  —  Bowhead     Whale  —  Finback 
Whale  —  Porpoise  —  Dolphin. 

CHAPTER   XXIV 

Rats  and  Mice 331 

Muskrat  —  White  Lemming  —  White-footed  Mouse  —  Cot- 
ton Rat  —  Wood  or  Pack  Rat  —  Marsh  Rat  —  Pouched 
Gopher  —  Gray  Pocket  Gopher  —  Kangaroo  Rat  —  Pocket 
Mouse  —  Jumping  Mouse. 


xii  TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   XXV 

PAGE 

Mischief  Makers         .........     349 

Red  Squirrel — Flying  Squirrel  —  Gray  Squirrel  —  Fox  Squir- 
rel —  Chipmunk  —  Striped  Spermophile  —  Line-tailed  or 
Rock  Spermophile. 

CHAPTER   XXVI 

The  Beaver's  Story 365 

CHAPTER   XXVII 

"B'ars  and  Possums"  ........     376 

Mammy  Bun's  Story. 

CHAPTER   XXVIII 

From  Moletown  to  Batville  .......     387 

Common  Mole  —  Star-nosed  Mole  —  Short-tailed  Shrew  — 
Least  Shrew  —  Hoary  Bat  —  Little  Red  Bat  —  Brown  Bat 
—  Little  Brown  Bat  —  House  or  Snouty  Bat. 

CHAPTER   XXIX 
A  Four-footed  Dance        ........     403 

LADDER     FOR     CLIMBING     THE     NORTH     AMERICAN 

MAMMAL    TREE 415 

INDEX 431 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

[The  artist  has  furnished  his  own  incidents  for  many  of  these 
illustrations,  and  the  author  wishes  to  express  her  thanks  for  the 
use  of  the  same  in  the  stories.] 

PAGE 

The  American  Deer Frontispiece 

Tom,  Jerry,  and  Comet     ........  6 

Vertebrate  Branches  of  the  Animal  Tree           ...  37 

The  Woodchuck 44 

Front  Paw  and  Tail  of  Muskrat 49 

The  Lumber  Camp      .........  72 

The  Collared  Peccary     ........  90 

White-footed  Mouse          ........  91 

North  American  Mammal  Tree        ......  98 

The  Bison 118 

Wood  Hare 140 

Marsh  Hare 146 

Jack  Rabbit 148 

Varying  Hare      ..........  151 

Pika,  Little  Chief,  or  Whistling  Hare        ....  154 

A  Red  Fox,  Hunting          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  158 

Canada  Porcupine       .         .         .         .         .         .        .         .         .  162 

Common  Skunk 176 

Otter  and  Fisher       .........  178 

Little  Striped  Skunk        ........  180 

Weasel  or  Ermine 183 

The  Mink 185 

Pine  Marten  and  Red  Squirrel      ......  186 

xiii 


xiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

wolverine  ...........  189 

The  Raccoon 192 

The  Arctic  Fox 202 

Timber  Wolf 212 

Civet  Cat 225 

The  Ocelot 228 

Heads  of  House  Cat,  Wildcat,  and  Canada  Lynx       .         .  229 

The  Puma  hunting  Elk     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  236 

Grizzly  Bear  and  Bighorn  Sheep  ......  240 

Mountain  Goats          .........  246 

Drama  of  the  Plains         ........  256 

The  Badger         .....  268 

Woodland  Caribou    .........  276 

Musk  Ox 278 

Polar  Bear  and  Seal 280 

Atlantic  Walrus        .........  284 

Sea  Bear  or  Fur  Seal 289 

Harbor  Seal 294 

Heads   of    Antelope   or   Pronghorn,   Mountain  Goat,  Big- 
horn, and  Musk  Ox     ........  300 

Heads  of  Woodland  Caribou,  Moose,  and  Elk    .         .         .  302 

Nez'  Big  Moose 316 

The  Manatee 322 

The  Sperm  Whale      .........  325 

Finback  Whale           .........  327 

The  Porpoise 328 

Dolphins 330 

Meadow  Mouse 332 

The  Muskrat 337 

Cotton  Rat          .                  339 

Marsh  Rat 340 

Wood  Bat 341 

Pouched  or  Mole   Gopher 343 

Gray  Pocket  Gopher 344 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


XV 


Kangaroo  Eat     « 
Pocket  Mouse     . 
Jumping  Mouse    . 
Flying  Squirrels 
Gray  Squirrel    . 
The  Chipmunk     . 
Striped  Spermopiiile 
Rock  Spermopiiile 
Beavers  at  Work 
Black  Bear 
The  Opossum 
Little  Brown  Bat 
Common  Mole 
Star-nosed  Mole 
Short-tailed  Shrew 
Least  Shrew 


page 
345 
347 

348 
352 
358 
300 
302 
364 
360 
379 
383 
389 
390 
391 
394 
395 


FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


IN   THE   PASTURE 


;T  was  circus  day  clown  at  East  Village. 
Not  the  common  circus,  with  a  Lion, 
Elephant,  a  cage  or  two  of  Monkeys, 
a  fat  clown  turning  somersaults,  and 
a  beautiful  lady  floating  through 
paper  hoops,  but  a  real  American 
circus  —  the  Wild  West  Show, 
with  its  scouts,  frontiersmen,  Bron- 
cos, bucking  Ponies,  Indians, 
and  Buffaloes. 
Of  course  the  House  People  at  Orchard  Farm  made 
a  holiday  and  went  down  to  see  the  show,  giving  many 
different  reasons  for  so  doing.  Dr.  Hunter  and  Mr. 
Blake  said  it  was  their  duty  as  patriotic  Americans 
to  encourage  native  institutions,  and  Mrs.  Blake  said 
that  she  must  surely  go  to  see  that  the  young  people 
did  not  eat  too  many  peanuts  and  popcorn  balls.  The 
young  people  thought  that  going  to  the  circus  was  a 
must  be,  unless  one  was  ill,  or  had  done  something  very, 
very  wrong,  that  merited  the  severest  sort  of  punish- 
ment.      Mammy    Bun,    too,   who   had   been   groaning 

B  l 


2  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

about  pains  in  her  bones  for  fully  a  week,  took  out 
her  best  black  bonnet  trimmed  with  a  big  red  rose,  — 
headgear  that  she  only  wore  on  great  occasions,  — 
saying  :  — 

"  Pears  to  me  nuffin  eber  does  ma  reumatiz  de  heap 
o'  good  like  hearin'  a  real  circus  ban'  a  playin'.  Land 
alibe,  honies  !  I  feel  so  spry  alreddy  seems  like  I'se 
could  do  a  caike  walk  dis  yer  minit." 

7p  £{£  $£  $fc  TfC 

It  was  October.  Everything  looked  cheerful  at  the 
farm.  The  maples  were  dressed  in  dazzling  red  and 
yellow  ;  heaps  of  red  and  yellow  apples  lay  under  the 
orchard  trees,  and  the  house  and  barns  wore  a  glisten- 
ing new  coat  of  yellow  paint,  with  white  trimmings 
and  green  blinds. 

A  deeper  yellow  shone  from  the  fields  where  jolly 
pumpkins  seemed  to  play  hide-and-seek  behind  the 
corn  stacks,  which  the  children  called  wigwams  when 
they  played  Indian.  Everything  looked  as  thrifty  as 
if  the  outdoor  season  was  beginning  instead  of  nearly 
at  an  end ;  and  well  it  might,  for  it  had  been  many 
years  since  the  old  farm  held  such  a  family.  There 
would  be  no  closed  blinds,  leaf-choked  paths,  or  snow- 
drifts left  to  bury  the  porch,  this  winter. 

"Yes,  the  Chimney  Swift  was  right,"  said  the 
Meadowlark  in  the  old  field,  to  the  Song  Sparrow  who 
was  singing  cheerfully  in  a  barberry  bush.  "  We  shall 
be  better  off  than  before  these  House  People  came  ; 
they  have  already  begun  to  scatter  food  in  the  barn- 
yard, though  there  are  enough  gleanings  about  to  last 
us  citizens  until  snow  comes.  The  village  boys  never 
think  of  coming  up  here  now  to  shoot,  as  they  used 


IN   THE   PASTURE  3 

to  every  season  when  the  wind  began  to  blow  cold  "  ; 
and  the  Meadowlark  flew  to  the  top  rail  of  the  fence, 
boldly  showing  his  3rellow  breast,  and  giving  a  note  or 
two  to  tell  how  trustful  he  was. 

"  Where  have  you  been  all  summer  ?  "  asked  Comet, 
the  young  trotter,  of  the  big  brown  farm  horses,  who 
had  come  to  drink  at  the  spring  in  the  pasture  below 
the  barns.  "  It  is  so  long  since  I  have  seen  you  I  was 
afraid  that  you  had  been  sold." 

"  Oh  no,  youngster  !  "  replied  Tom.  "  Jerry  and  I 
have  only  been  summering  up  at  the  wood  lots  at  the 
far  end  of  the  farm.  We  had  our  shoes  off  all  the 
time,  and  could  amuse  ourselves  as  we  liked.  We 
never  saw  a  harness  or  wagon  ;  all  the  work  we  did 
was  to  roll  in  the  grass  or  wade  in  the  river  to  keep 
the  flies  off.  The  grazing  up  there  was  simply  deli- 
cious, you  know,  —  all  sorts  of  relishing  little  bits  of 
herbs  mixed  in  with  the  grass. 

"  Now  that  we  have  had  our  rest,  it  is  our  turn  to 
work,  and  gray  Bess  and  Billy  have  gone  to  the  pad- 
dock, and  we  have  come  to  take  their  places.  There  is 
plenty  to  do  on  this  farm  in  fall  and  winter,  though 
it  is  very  lonely.  I  can  remember,  when  I  was  a  four- 
year-old,  that  House  People  lived  in  the  big  barn  with 
all  the  windows,  and  they  used  to  ride  over  the  snow 
in  the  low  wagon  without  wheels,  and  we  all  had  fine 
times  together." 

"There  are  fine  times  here  now,"  said  Comet,  shak- 
ing his  mane  importantly;  "but  of  course  you  do  not 
know  about  them,  because  you  have  been  away.  House 
People  are  living  here  again.  We  all  have  great  fun 
and  the  best  of  eating,  with  more  picnics  than  plough- 


4  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

ing  for  the  horses.  Children  play  about  the  farm,  who 
feed  me  with  bunches  of  pink  clover  and  little  lumps 
of  nice-tasting  stuff  they  call  sugar.  I  mistrusted  it 
at  first,  it  looked  so  like  the  hard  pebbles  in  the  brook, 
but  it  chewed  up  all  right  when  I  nibbled  some." 

"  You  don't  look  as  if  you  had  been  having  half  enough 
to  eat,  in  spite  of  the  good  times,"  said  Tom,  pityingly. 
"  Only  look  at  your  ribs.  I  can  count  every  one  of 
them.  If  you  were  harnessed  to  a  plough,  you  would 
come  apart  at  the  very  first  pull.  How  could  you 
drag  a  load  of  hay  ?  As  for  working  in  the  thresh- 
ing-machine, those  little  feet  of  yours  would  catch 
between  the  slats.  What  use  are  thin  horses,  any- 
way ? "  concluded  Tom,  rather  rudely,  not  realizing 
that  his  remarks  were  impolite,  while  Jerry  looked 
proudly  along  his  fat  sides  and  pawed  the  ground  with 
a  hoof  nearly  as  large  as  a  dinner  plate. 

Comet  was  going  to  answer  angrily  and  say  some- 
thing very  saucy  about  clumsy  work  horses,  but  he 
stopped  himself  in  time,  being  every  inch  a  thorough- 
bred ;  for  good  breeding  shows  in  the  manners  of 
animals  as  well  as  in  House  People. 

"  No,"  he  answered  after  a  moment,  "  I  can't  plough, 
nor  drag  a  load,  nor  work  the  threshing-machine ;  but 
horses  are  made  for  different  kinds  of  work.  You  do 
not  think  a  cow  useless  because  she  gives  milk  instead 
of  doing  any  sort  of  pulling,  do  you?  Now  I  can  drag 
the  little  wagon  over  to  the  railway  station  —  where 
the  great  iron  horse  drags  the  string  of  covered  wagons 
along  the  ground  on  the  queer  shiny  fence  rails  —  in 
half  the  time  it  takes  you  to  go  round  the  ten-acre 
lot.     When  I  hear  that  horse  coming,  breathing  hard 


IN    THE  PASTURE  5 

and  roaring1,  I  prick  up  my  ears,  and  you  can  hardly 
see  my  feet  when  they  touch  the  road,  for  I  do  not 
want  that  great  roaring  horse  to  get  there  before  I  do. 
So  the  master  is  pleased,  and  always  takes  me.  How 
would  you  like  to  go  fast  like  that  ?  "  said  Comet, 
smiling  behind  a  bunch  of  grass. 

"  I  couldn't  go  fast  if  I  wanted  to,"  said  Tom,  hon- 
estly. "  I  tried  it  once,  when  a  plough-chain  fell  and 
banged  my  heels.  They  called  it  running  away,  I 
believe.  My  !  how  warm  I  was.  Everything  looked 
red  as  the  sun  in  August,  and  a  warm  rain  storm 
rolled  off  my  coat  on  to  the  grass.  That  is  what  it 
seemed  to  me,  but  the  farmer  said,  '  Tom  is  too  fat  and 
soft.  See  how  he  sweats ! '  and  they  skimped  my 
dinner  for  a  month." 

"  Well,  then,  to  continue,"  said  Comet.  "  We  ani- 
mals haven't  been  shut  up  all  summer  except  in 
stormy  weather  ;  the  bars  have  been  down  between  all 
the  best  pastures.  Even  Sausage,  the  sow,  and  her 
nine  little  pigs,  have  been  out  walking  every  day,  and 
her  sty  has  had  fresh  bedding  in  it  the  same  as  if  they 
were  Cow  or  Horse  People. 

"  We  had  so  much  freedom  that  I  thought  at  first 
that  there  would  be  a  great  many  fights,  but  we  have 
all  behaved  beautifully.  Even  Nanny  Baa,  the  stub- 
born old  sheep,  and  Corney,  the  mischievous  goat,  have 
not  butted  any  one  or  fought  each  other. 

"  We've  had  a  chance  to  hear  about  the  world  and 
the  other  animals  in  it  too,  for  a  circus  has  been  camp- 
ing a  few  fields  further  down." 

"  I  don't  like  a  circus,"  interrupted  Jerry,  decidedly. 
"  There  are  always  a  lot  of  bad-smelling,  foreign  beasts 


6  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

in  cages  with  a  circus,  that  a  respectable  farm  four- 
foot  should  not  encourage.  Then  there  is  a  terrible 
noise,  —  worse  than  milk-pans  falling  off  the  fence,  — 
that  they  call  a  band  ;  it  makes  ine  forget  myself  and 
dodge  and  dance  all  over  the  road.  Yes,  indeed,  I 
well  remember  the  first  circus  I  ever  heard.  It  came 
here  when  we  were  five-year-olds.  Tom  and  I  upset  a 
load  of  cabbages,  and  they  rolled  all  the  way  down 
Long  Hill  into  the  brook." 

"  There  were  no  foreign  wild  beasts  in  this  circus," 
said  Comet,  proud  of  his  knowledge.  "  I  put  my  head 
through  the  fence  bars  and  had  a  fine  chance  to  talk 
to  some  of  the  horses.  There  were  several  kinds  of 
Horse  Brothers  there  that  I  had  never  seen  before  ; 
different  even  from  the  long-eared  Donkey  and  Mule 
Brothers."  Here  Comet  stopped,  took  a  bite  of  grass 
and  a  drink  of  water,  waiting  to  see  if  Tom  and  Jerry 
were  interested. 

They  were,  and  as  Comet  looked  up  he  saw  that 
some  of  the  other  animals  were  coming  down  to  drink, 
—  Daisy,  the  finest  cow  in  the  herd,  and  Nanny  Baa, 
sauntering  all  alone,  the  other  sheep  not  having  yet 
missed  her,  while  Corney,  the  goat,  whose  whole  name 
was  Capricornus,  danced  about  on  a  rock,  charging  at 
an  imaginary  enemy  in  the  sky. 

"  What  other  horses  did  you  see  V  "  asked  Tom  and 
Jerry  together,  as  the  others  came  up. 

"  There  were  small  horses,  homely  and  thin,  with 
straight  necks  and  rolling  eyes.  Some  of  these  were 
brown,  and  some  all  mixed  brown  and  white.  They 
ran  up  and  down  the  field,  clearing  the  old  division 
fence  at  a  jump.     These   were    called    Indian  Ponies, 


; 


Tom,  Jerry,  and  Comet. 


IN  THE  PASTURE  7 

and  men  they  called  Indians,  with  small  eyes  and  dark 
rusty  faces,  rode  on  them  for  exercise.  Beside  these 
there  were  some  others,  called  Burros,  with  longish 
ears,  who  did  not  seem  to  know  how  to  either  trot  or 
run,  and  some  of  the  small  horses  kept  jerking  and 
humping  up  their  backs,  so  that  the  men  could  not 
ride  them. 

"  Who  told  you  all  these  names  ? "  asked  Tom, 
suspiciously. 

"  There  was  an  old  horse  who  did  not  work  in  the 
circus,  but  only  helped  draw  wagons,  who  stayed  by 
the  fence  and  talked  to  me.  He  had  seen  a  great  deal 
of  life  in  his  day,  and  what  do  you  think  he  said  about 
those  strange  horses  ?  That  they  were  not  born  and 
raised  on  nice  farms  like  you  and  me  ;  that  they  came 
from  the  west  country  where  they  run  wild  until  they 
are  old  enough  to  work,  and  they  live  in  great  flocks  as 
the  Crows  do  hereabouts.  Every  horse  has  a  mark  on 
his  side,  put  there  by  the  man  who  owns  him.  When 
they  are  young  they  have  fine  sport,  but  when  it  is 
time  for  them  to  work,  men  ride  after  them  on  swift 
horses  and  catch  them  by  throwing  a  rope  loop  over 
their  heads,  and  sometimes  this  hurts  them  very  much, 
and  they  are  also  sorry  to  leave  their  friends. 

"  Out  in  the  west  country  where  these  horses  lived, 
the  plains  are  full  of  fourfoots,  —  not  Horse  and  Cow 
People,  —  but  real  wild  fourfoots,  strange  as  any  of  the 
Elephants  or  Lions.  There  are  more  kinds  of  them 
than  you  could  ever  dream  of,  even  if  you  ate  a  whole 
bushel  of  oats  for  supper. 

"The  Horse  said  that  they  belong  to  older  American 
families  than  any  of  us  farm  animals,  and  that  once 


8  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

these  four-footed  Americans  and  the  Red  Indian 
Brothers,  who  lived  in  tents,  owned  all  the  country, 
and  there  were  no  real  House  People  or  farm  fourfoots 
here  at  all." 

"  That  must  have  been  a  long  time  ago,"  said  Jerry. 
"  I  remember  my  grandmother,  and  she  never  said  any- 
thing about  wild  people,  and  I  never  knew  about  any 
other  animals  but  ourselves." 

"  Who  am  7",  pray  ? "  squealed  a  Squirrel,  scamper- 
ing along  the  fence.  "  How  ignorant  you  are  not  to 
know  that  I  belong  to  a  very  old  family." 

"  You  don't  count,"  neighed  Jerry.  "  I  never  thought 
you  were  an  animal." 

"  Not  an  animal,  hey  ?  I  will  show  you  what  a  sharp- 
toothed  animal  I  am,  some  fine  day,  and  nibble  up  your 
dinner  when  you  are  asleep,"  and  the  Squirrel  jumped 
over  Jerry's  back,  and  ran  up  a  tree. 

"  My  friend  told  me,"  continued  Comet,  "  that  some 
of  those  wild  fourfoots  are  working  for  their  living  in 
this  very  circus.  They  are  quite  rare  now,  though 
they  used  to  be  as  plentiful  in  the  west  pastures  as 
ants  in  a  hill.  He  showed  me  some  of  these  beasts 
this  very  morning  when  they  were  being  led  down  to 
the  village." 

"  What  did  they  look  like  ?  " 

"  Something  like  bulls,  with  low  backs  and  great 
heavy  heads,  all  bushy  with  thick  brown  wool.  My 
friend  said  they  are  called  Bison  by  the  Wise  Men  ;  but 
in  the  circus  and  out  where  they  used  to  live,  every  one 
calls  them  Buffaloes." 

"  I  wonder  if  they  are  related  to  me  ?  "  said  Daisy, 
who  had  joined  the  group. 


IN   THE  PASTURE  9 

"  They  are  not  as  handsome  as  yon,  though  they 
might  belong  to  your  family,"  said  Comet,  politely. 

"  Perhaps  I  may  have  some  wild  cousins,"  said 
Sausage,  rooting  up  the  turf.  "  I  wonder  what  they 
eat?" 

"  I  should  like  to  go  and  meet  my  wild  relations,  if 
I  have  any,"  said  Corney.  "  I  wonder  if  they  could 
beat  me  at  butting  and  sliding  down  hill  ?  " 

"  Humph,  it  is  very  strange  about  all  these  wild 
things,"  said  Jerry.  "I  —  My,  they  are  making  that 
bang  noise  again,  down  at  the  village  !  " 

"  That  is  the  band.  I  think  the  circus  is  over,"  said 
Comet. 

"  Which  Horse  Brother  dragged  the  people  down 
there,  and  who  went  ?  "  asked  Daisy,  who  was  always 
inquisitive. 

"  They  all  went,  and  they  walked  with  their  own 
feet,  because  the  Doctor  knows  that  we  do  not  like 
smells  and  noises,"  said  Comet.  "  They  are  coming 
back  up  the  hill  now.  Nat  is  following  'way  behind, 
carrying  something.  Ugh  !  It  is  a  big  snake,  and  he 
has  it  by  the  tail.  I  hate  snakes  ;  they  look  up  so 
suddenly  out  of  the  grass  when  one  is  feeding,  and 
they  always  seem  to  be  by  the  nicest  bunch  of  clover." 

"  Perhaps  the  people  will  stop  here  to  rest,  and  we 
may  hear  something  about  our  wild  brothers,"  said 
Daisy. 

"  I  think  Dodo  has  sugar  for  me,"  said  Comet  to  Tom 
and  Jerry.  "  I  will  drop  a  piece,  and  you  can  pick  it 
up,  and  see  how  you  like  it." 

"  Comet  is  quite  a  gentleman,  if  his  ribs  do  show," 
muttered  Tom  to  his  companion,  looking  pleased,  while 


10  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

the  other  animals  lingered  about  the  spring,  waiting  for 
the. House  People. 

"  Here  are  the  horses  that  I  haven't  seen  before  from 
the  grass  farm  ;  and  Comet,  too,  and  Daisy  !  "  cried 
Dodo,  climbing  over  the  fence.  "  Please  stop  a  bit, 
Uncle  Roy,  and  let  me  give  them  some  of  my  popcorn 
balls  ;  I'm  mre  they  will  like  them,  and  Corney  simply 
loves  peanuts." 

"What  did  I  tell  you?"  whispered  Comet  to  Tom, 
as  Dodo  chirped  for  him  to  come  to  her. 


II 

THE   ANIMAL  TREE 


|OME  up  on  the  fence  too,  please, 
uncle,"  coaxed  Dodo,  and  Dr. 
s»w  Hunter  climbed  over  the 
pasture  bars,  seating  him- 
self on  the  fence  in  answer  to 
her  request  to  '  stop  a  bit  while 
she  fed  the  animals.'  He  mo- 
tioned to  Rap,  who  was  rather 
tired  with  his  walk,  to  come 
beside  him,  while  Nat  and  Dodo  divided  the  contents 
of  their  pockets  into  little  heaps. 

"  Give  the  popcorn  to  Daisy  and  the  horses,"  said 
Dodo.  "  The  peanuts  are  for  Corney  ;  we  can  toss 
them  up,  and  see  him  hop  and  scramble  to  catch  them. 
It's  lots  of  fun.  Sausage  can  have  all  the  mixed 
crumbs,  'cause  she  likes  grubby  things.  Please,  Nat, 
won't  you  bury  your  snake,  or  hang  it  up,  or  some- 
thing? Whichever  way  I  look,  it  seems  to  be  too  near." 
"  I'll  hang  it  up  on  the  tree,  because  I'm  going  to 
put  it  in  a  glass  jar  to  keep.  Daddy  has  gone  back 
to  the  village  to  buy  me  some  alcohol  to  pour  on  it." 
"  Ugh  !  what  do  you  want  it  for  ?  If  I  were  you, 
I'd  rather  have  the  money  the  alcohol  costs  to  buy 
a  new  butterfly  net." 

ll 


12  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Uncle  Roy  says  it  is  as  fine  a  rattlesnake  as  he 
ever  saw.  That  is  why  he  bought  it  of  the  man  from 
the  mountain,  who  killed  it.  There  aren't  any  here- 
abouts now.  A  good  thing,  too,  because  they  are 
biters  ;  but  I  want  it  for  my  collection.  I  haven't 
many  reptiles,  you  know ;  only  a  garter  snake,  two 
lizards,  and  a  frog  —  whoa!  Tom,  eat  fair;  your 
mouth  is  twice  as  big  as  Comet's." 

"  How  queer  Daisy's  tongue  feels  —  it  tickles  my 
hand,"  said  Dodo.  "  She  licks  everything  into  her 
mouth,  but  the  horses  take  food  in  their  lips.  Uncle 
Roy,  please  come  down  here  and  see  how  queerly 
Daisy  eats,  and  oh,  my  !  she  hasn't  any  top  front 
teeth,  either.  Is  she  very  old  ?  Do  look  ;  her  jaws 
wiggle  as  if  she  was  chewing  gum  !  " 

"  No,  little  girl  ;  none  of  the  Cow  Family  have  any 
front  upper  teeth.  A  well-behaved  cow  sticks  out 
her  tongue  with  a  sidewise  motion  to  guide  the  grass 
into  her  mouth,  while  in  the  Horse  Family  the  habit 
is  to  seize  it  with  the  lips,  and  then  nip  it  between 
the  teeth." 

"  Yes,  but,  uncle  !  "  cried  Nat,  jumping  hastily  over 
the  fence  to  dodge  Corney,  who  was  tired  of  eating 
peanuts  one  by  one,  and,  giving  a  sudden  butt,  had 
seized  bag  and  all ;  "  Uncle  Roy,  cows  are  ever  so  fond 
of  chewing.  They  eat  all  the  morning,  and  then  they 
go  under  the  trees  and  chew,  chew,  chew,  all  the  after- 
noon ;  but  horses  gobble  their  food  once  for  all." 

u  I'm  very  glad  you  have  noticed  this,  Nat.  The 
cow  is  built  upon  a  different  plan  from  the  horse. 
The  horse  has  a  complete  set  of  upper  and  under 
teeth,  and  a  single  stomach  —  something  like  our  own 


THE  ANIMAL    TREE  13 

—  to  receive  the  food.  The  cow  has  four  stomachs. 
When  she  eats,  the  food  goes  into  the  first  stomach, 
where  it  stays  a  while  to  grow  soft.  After  Daisy  has 
filled  this  first  stomach,  she  goes  to  rest  for  a  while, 
brings  up  the  softened  food  into  her  mouth,  and  chews 
it  again.     This  softened  food  is  called  the  '  cud/  ' 

"  Oh,  now  I  know  what  Rod  meant,"  cried  Dodo, 
clapping  her  hands,  "  when  he  said  the  cows  were 
chewing  their  '  cud.1  They  were  lying  under  the  trees, 
and  didn't  seem  to  have  anything  near  them  to  eat. 
I  thought  end  must  be  moss  or  something.  Do  any 
other  of  our  animals  beside  cows  have  several  stom- 
achs and  chew  cud  ?  " 

"  Yes,  all  the  animals  that  belong  to  the  Meat  Fam- 
ily :  Sheep  and  Goats,  and,  among  their  wild  Ameri- 
can brothers,  the  Deer  and  the  very  Buffalo  that  you 
saw  at  the  show  this  afternoon." 

"  Were  those  strange  beasts  any  relations  of  our 
farm  animals?"  asked  the  children  in  one  breath. 

"  Were  our  farm  animals  once  wild  like  the  Buf- 
faloes, and  did  they  live  far  out  West?  Who  first 
caught  them  and  made  them  tame  ?  "  gabbled  Dodo, 
only  stopping  when  her  breath  failed. 

"  Our  farm  animals  were  never,  in  the  true  sense, 
natives  of  this  country.  In  the  far  back  days,  before 
the  pale-faced  voyagers  came  to  these  shores,  the  Red 
Brothers  had  no  horses  to  carry  them,  nor  cows  to  give 
them  milk.  They  followed  the  war-path  and  game- 
trail  on  foot,  and  their  clothing  and  tent  homes  were 
made  of  the  skins  of  the  beasts  they  took  with  bow, 
arrow,  and  spear.  Time  was  when  they  had  not  even 
spears  and  arrows. 


14  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  When  the  pale-faced  settlers  came  to  America  they 
brought  the  useful  animals  from  their  old  homes  with 
them  :  pigs,  sheep,  horses,  goats,  cows,  dogs,  cats, 
etc.,  —  so  though  these  have  lived  here  as  the  people 
have,  long  enough  to  be  citizens,  they  are  not  native 
or  indigenous  Americans  any  more  than  we  ourselves. 
That  distinction  belongs  to  the  Indian,  Peccary,  Buffalo, 
Musk  Ox,  Mountain  Goat,  Bighorn,  Wolf,  and  Wild- 
cat, who  are  the  wild  cousins  of  House  People  and 
their  farm  fourfoots.  The  horse  alone  has  no  living 
wild  cousin  here,  though  there  were  horses  in  America 
ages  ago." 

"  Then  those  horses  that  the  Indians  rode  at  the 
show,  who  hopped  around  so,  weren't  really  wild  at 
all,"  said  Nat,  with  a  look  of  great  disappointment. 
"  They  seemed  really,  truly  wild,  and  how  the  Indians 
stuck  on  and  dodged  and  fired  their  guns  !  " 

"  They  are  wild  in  the  sense  that  they  were  born  on 
the  open  prairie  and  lived  in  vast  herds,  but  they  are 
the  great-grandchildren  of  tame  horses.  In  the  south- 
west, as  well  as  in  South  America,  vast  herds  of  these 
horses,  descended  from  those  brought  in  by  the  Span- 
ish, roamed  at  large.  From  time  to  time  the  Indians 
dashed  into  the  troops  and  lassoed  those  that  they  de- 
sired and  rode  them  as  we  saw  the  Indians  do  this 
afternoon,  but  they  are  not  true  four-footed  Americans 
like  that  little  Chipmunk  over  there,  who  is  stealing  a 
few  peanuts  that  Corney  overlooked,  or  like  the  sly, 
fat  Woodchucks  that  we  are  trying  to  trap  in  the 
orchard." 

"  Please,  Uncle  Roy,  can  Dodo  and  I  put  halters  on 
Tom  and  Jerry  and  see  if  we  can  ride  them  round  the 


THE  ANIMAL    TREE  15 

field  without  any  saddles  ?  "  said  Nat,  looking  fearlessly 
up  at  the  big  horses,  whose  mouths  barely  touched  the 
top  of  his  head. 

"You  can  try,  if  you  like,"  laughed  the  Doctor,  "but 
I'm  afraid  it  will  be  too  hard  travelling  for  Dodo.  No, 
you  will  risk  a  bumping  ?  Very  well,  then,  but  tell 
Rod  to  bring  blankets  and  surcingles." 

In  a  few  minutes  Rod  came,  strapped  a  folded 
blanket  on  each  horse,  and  gave  Nat  Jerry's  halter,  but 
insisted  upon  keeping  hold  of  Tom. 

"  Now,  if  I  only  had  something  to  shoot  with,  we 
could  play  circus.  Hoo-oo-ooh  !  "  cried  Nat,  trying  to 
imitate  an  Indian  cry,  at  which  sound  Jerry  galloped 
very  quietly  down  the  pasture,  switching  his  tail.  But 
to  Nat  it  seemed  as  if  he  was  seated  on  an  earthquake, 
and  he  clutched  Jerry's  mane,  whereupon  the  horse 
gave  a  little  kick  of  surprise  and  cantered  heavily  back 
to  the  spring. 

"I  think  T-o-m  is  falling  to  pieces,"  chattered  Dodo, 
as  Rod  ran  him  round  the  pasture.  "He  —  is  —  so  — 
fat,  too,  my  legs  can't  bend  down  ;  —  I  —  guess  I'll 
stop,  please,"  and  Rod  swung  her  down  to  the  wall 
beside  her  uncle. 

"  A  circus  isn't  as  easy  as  it  looks,"  said  Nat,  wiping 
his  face,  and  Rap  laughed  heartily  and  pounded  his 
crutch  on  the  fence. 

"  Farm  horses  are  not  saddle  horses,"  said  Comet  to 
himself. 

"  I'm  all  mixed  up  about  animals,"  said  Dodo  in  a 
few  minutes  when  she  had  caught  her  breath.  "  Our 
farm  animals  aren't  real  Americans,  yet  Daisy  is  a 
kind  of  cousin  of  the  wild  Buffalo,  because  she  has  no 


16  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

upper  front  teeth  and  chews  a  cud.  Birds  seem  so 
much  easier  to  understand.  Birds  are  animals  with  a 
backbone,  a  beak  for  a  mouth,  and  two  legs.  They 
wear  feathers  and  lay  eggs.  But  these  others  are 
different  in  their  mouths  and  stomachs  and  feet,  and 
some  have  horns  and  some  don't.  Some  have  little 
tails  like  Corney,  and  some  long  hairy  tails  like  the 
horses,  and  oh,  Uncle  Roy,  that  snake  there  is  all  tail  ! 

"  Olive  says  bugs,  and  beetles,  and  flies,  are  animals, 
too,  and  beetles  are  crusty,  and  caterpillars  are  squashy, 
and  flies  are  buzzy,  and  I'm  sure  I  never  can  tell  who 
is  who.  Birds  look  something  alike,  even  when  they 
are  as  different  as  a  Hummingbird  and  a  Duck ;  but  I 
cant  understand  how  all  the  other  animals  are  re- 
lated." 

"  Not  so  fast,  dearie,"  said  the  Doctor,  laughing  at  her 
inquiries  until  the  tears  ran  down  his  cheeks.  "  The 
differences  and  the  relationships  of  these  animals  are 
no  harder  to  remember  than  they  are  among  the  birds. 
You  know  that  with  them  their  beaks  and  feet  were 
arranged  to  suit  their  needs.  Have  you  forgotten  how 
we  classified  the  birds,  and  the  little  table  of  the  Animal 
Kingdom  that  you  wrote  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Nat,  hesitating  ;  "  that  is,  I  did  know, 
but  I've  forgotten  most  of  it." 

"I  remember,"  said  Rap,  "that  you  said  classifying 
was  to  put  the  animals  together  that  were  the  nearest 
alike,  and  the  two  great  divisions  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom were  animals  without  backbones  and  animals  with 
them." 

"  Olive  says  my  sponge  is  an  animal,"  said  Dodo, 
doubtfully.     "  Surely  it  can't  have  any  backbone,  for 


THE  ANIMAL   THEE  17 

if  it  did  it  would  scratch  my  face  ;  but  then  it  was  full 
of  prickles  when  it  was  new,  perhaps  its  backbone  was 
crumpled  up  !  " 

"  I  must  try  to  make  this  Animal  Kingdom  and  its 
chief  divisions  more  clear  to  you,"  said  the  Doctor, 
pausing  a  minute  as  he  looked  across  the  pasture.  "Do 
you  see  that  great  chestnut  tree  yonder,  with  the  thick 
trunk  and  wide-spreading  branches  ?  " 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  Rap,  "  and  it  bears  the  fattest, 
sweetest  nuts  of  any  tree  hereabouts  ;  but  it  takes  a 
very  hard  frost  to  open  them." 

"  I  remember  how  good  the  nuts  used  to  be,  but  now 
I  want  you  all  to  notice  the  way  in  which  the  tree 
grows.  Above  ground  there  is  a  thick  straight  part 
which  is  called  the  trunk ;  then  this  soon  divides 
into  large  branches.  A  little  further  up  these  thick 
branches  separate  into  smaller  branches  yet,  until  they 
end  in  little  slender  twigs. 

"  The  Animal  Kingdom  is  like  this  tree  in  the  way 
in  which  -the  different  members  all  are  developed  side 
by  side,  interlacing  and  depending  upon  each  other.  It 
is  difficult  to  tell  some  of  the  lowest  branches  of  the 
animal  tree  from  plants:  as  none  of  these  animals  of 
the  first  branches  have  any  backbones,  they  are  called 
Invertebrates,  and  their  inside  parts  are  held  together 
in  a  little  tube." 

"  Are  birds  on  one  of  the  high  branches  ? "  asked 
Dodo. 

"  Yes,  one  of  the  very  highest,  next  to  the  great 
branch,  where  man  himself  sits,  surrounded  by  all  his 
faithful  four-footed  friends,  just  as  he  is  when  he  walks 
about  every  day." 


18  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Do  House  People  and  fourfoots  belong  on  the  same 
great  branch?"  said  Rap,  looking  puzzled.  "What  is 
it  called,  please?" 

"  It  is  the  Mammal  branch,  the  highest  of  all,  and  it 
has  so  many  little  branchlets  and  twigs  that  it  is  large 
enough  to  be  a  tree  all  by  itself." 

"  Exactly  Jiotv  are  the  other  Mammals  like  us,  and 
what  does  Mammal  mean?  Do  they  all  have  warm  red 
blood  like  ours?"  asked  Dodo,  who  was  celebrated  for 
cutting  her  fingers. 

"  They  all  have  warm  red  blood,  but  so  have  birds  ; 
there  are  other  differences  that  you  will  learn  later. 
The  one  thing  that  makes  them  Mammals  is  that  they 
suckle  their  young  with  milk." 

"M  —  mammals;  m  —  milk,"  sang  Dodo.  "Why, 
that  is  as  easy  to  remember  as  '  Billy  Button  bought  a 
buttered  biscuit '  !  Please  tell  us  the  names  of  some 
nearby  Mammals,  Uncle  Roy." 

"  All  the  farm  and  house  fourfoots  are  Mammals  ; 
also  the  wild  Deer,  Wolves,  Foxes,  Rats,  Mice,  Squir- 
rels, Moles,  Skunks,  Weasels,  and  Woodchucks,  beside 
many  others  you  do  not  know  even  by  name." 

"  So  all  those  nuisance  animals  are  Mammals  too," 
said  Dodo,  meditatively. 

"  Nuisance  animals  !  Which  are  those  ? "  asked 
Rap. 

"  The  naughty,  bothersome  ones  that  eat  things  and 
bite  holes  in  the  house,  and  dig  up  the  orchard,  and 
smell,  oh,  so  bad  !  Why,  Rap,  don't  you  remember 
the  evening  we  thought  there  was  a  black  and  white 
rooster  by  the  orchard  wall,  and  Quick  and  I  tried  to 
catch  it,  and  it  turned  out  to  be  a  Skunk  ?     Then  my 


THE  ANIMAL   TREE  19 

clothes  had  to  be  boiled  so  hard  they  were  no  more  use, 
and  Quick  tried  to  get  away  from  himself  for  almost 
two  weeks." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  do.  Mammals  must  have  a  great  many 
shapes,  Doctor,"  continued  Rap,  thoughtfully.  "  How 
are  they  made  into  families  ?  —  the  same  way  as 
birds?" 

"  In  very  much  the  same  way.  To-night,  after  sup- 
per, I  will  draw  you  a  picture  of  a  part  of  this  wonder- 
ful animal  tree,  and  tell  you  the  names  of  some  of  its 
branches,  and  perhaps  you  will  remember  a  few  of  them. 
I  do  not  wisli  to  bother  you  with  long  words,  but  there 
are  a  few  that  you  must  learn. 

"  The  history  of  this  animal  tree  is  the  most  inter- 
esting story  in  the  world,  and  the  Wise  Men  call  it 
Zoology,  after  two  Greek  words  that  mean  the 
'history  of  animal  life.'  " 

"  Then  that  is  the  reason  why  an  out-door  menag- 
erie is  called  a  Zo-o-logical  Garden,"  said  Nat,  stum- 
bling a  trifle  over  the  word.  "  Daddy  was  reading  to 
mother  about  such  a  beautiful  garden  for  wild  animals 
that  is  going  to  be  made  near  New  York,  —  the  very 
biggest  in  the  world,  —  so  that  every  one  in  America 
can  see  how  the  animals  live.  Perhaps  we  can  go 
there  some  day  and  see  all  the  Mammals." 

"  Daisy  gives  milk,  so  I  am  very  sure  I  know  one 
Mammal  anyway,"  said  Dodo,  who  was  growing  a  little 
tired.  "  Oh  !  oh  !  "  she  cried,  suddenly  jumping  off 
the  fence.  "  The  sun  is  going  down  pop.  I  never 
noticed  it,  and  Rod  said  I  might  help  milk  to-night. 
He's  taking  the  cows  in  now.  Won't  you  come  and 
see  me  do  it,  Uncle  Roy  ?  " 


20  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"You  help  milk?"  laughed  Nat.  "Who  taught 
you  how?  " 

"  Rod ;  I've  had  four  lessons,  and  I  can  milk  almost 
a  quart.  Then  my  hands  grow  all  weak  and  shaky, 
and  Hod  says  it's  enough  for  once,  both  for  me  and  for 
the  cow.     Daisy  is  the  only  one  that  will  let  me." 

"Poor,  patient  Daisy,"  laughed  the  Doctor.  "To 
be  sure  we  will  come  and  see  this  famous  milkmaid." 

Dodo  led  the  way  to  the  cow  barn,  where  each  cow 
had  a  clean  stall  marked  with  her  name.  Then  she 
tied  a  queer  sort  of  apron  round  her  waist,  made,  like 
Rod's,  out  of  a  meal  sack,  hunted  for  a  small  stool,  also 
like  Rod's,  and  prepared  in  a  very  businesslike  man- 
ner to  wash  off  Daisy's  bag  with  a  sponge  and  some 
clean  water. 

"  Bravo  !  Bravo  !  "  cried  the  Doctor.  "  My  little 
farmer  has  already  learned  that  everything  about  milk, 
from  the  animal  to  the  pans,  should  be  very  clean." 

"  Zig-zig-zig-zig,"  said  the  milk,  spattering  on  the 
bottom  of  the  pail.  In  a  few  minutes  the  spattering 
stopped. 

"  Now  it's  beginning  to  purr  like  a  cat,"  explained 
Dodo.  "  It  does  that  when  the  milk  begins  to  fill  up  a 
little." 

Dodo  kept  bravely  at  it  until  her  fingers,  now  red 
and  tired,  had  coaxed  about  a  quart  from  Daisy. 

"That  will  go  for  to-night,"  she  said,  "though  I'm 
sure  I  milked  more  last  time.  I'm  dreadfully  thirsty  ; 
suppose  we  drink  this  now,  Uncle  Roy.  There's  a 
glass  b}r  the  well,  Nat,"  —  and  the  milk  rapidly 
disappeared. 

"M  —  mammals;   m  —  milk,"  sang    Dodo,   skipping 


THE  ANIMAL    TREE  21 

ahead  toward  the  house,  as  the  short  twilight  hurried 
after  the  sun. 

"  I  wish  the  days  were  longer,"  sighed  Rap,  turning 
to  go  home. 

"  But  evening  with  a  wood  fire  in  the  wonder  room 
is  lovely,"  sang  Dodo,  "  and  to-night  uncle  he,  will 
draw  a  tree,"  —  she  sang;  then  stopped  and  laughed 
at  her  rhyme. 

"  Uncle  Roy,"  she  whispered,  "  it's  been  such  a 
happy  day,  can  we  have  Rap  to  help  finish  off  by 
toasting  crackers  in  the  wonder  room,  and  see  you 
draw  the  animal  tree?  Yes?  I'll  give  you  a  bear's 
hug  !  " 

"I  reckon  there  will  be  a  frost  to-night,"  said  Rod, 
passing  on  his  way  to  the  house  with  the  milk-pail. 

"  Frost  !  "  shouted  Nat,  dancing  round  in  glee. 
"Frost — chestnuts,  Rap,  —  and  to-morrow  will  be 
Saturday  !  " 

*  *  *  *  * 

"  How  do  you  like  this  ? "  said  Comet,  looking  up 
from  his  oats  over  to  Tom  and  Jerry,  as  the  stable 
door  closed  with  a  click.  "  Box  stalls  and  two  bundles 
of  clean  straw  apiece,  and  warm  bran  mash  for  you 
beside.  Did  you  ever  have  anything  as  nice  as  this 
where  you  were  this  summer  ?  " 

"  I  think  the  House  People  here  understand  a 
horse's  feelings,"  answered  Jerry,  plunging  his  nose 
into  his  supper. 


Ill 


WAFFLES    AND   A   WALK 


AMMY  BUN  cooked  a  delicious 
supper    for    the    children    that 
night,  for  the  circus  had  put 
her  in  extra  good  humor. 

As  it  was  the  first  of  the 
really  cool  evenings,  she  sur- 
prised them  with  hot  cocoa 
in  the  place  of  their  usual 
glasses  of  milk,  and  there  was 
cream  toast,  and  cold  chicken 
and  tongue  sliced  daintily  together. 

The  children  had  famous  appetites,  and  Mr.  Blake 
said  he  expected  by  spring  they  would  all  be  as  fat  as 
Sausage  herself. 

"  Not  if  you  carry  out  all  the  plans  I  have  for  mak- 
ing you  work  and  keeping  you  out-of-doors,"  said  the 
Doctor. 

"  What  ?  What  are  we  going  to  do  ?  Is  there  a  sur- 
prise ?  "  asked  Dodo  eagerly,  reluctantly  setting  down 
her  teacup.  "  School  takes  so  much  time  and  the  rest 
of  it  is  nearly  all  dark.     Oh  !  I  smell  waffles  !  " 

"  What  is  nearly  all  dark,  —  the  school,  or  the  time, 
or  the  waffles  ?  "  asked  the  Doctor,  as  soon  as  the  laugh, 
caused  by  Dodo's  mixed-up  sentences,  had  stopped. 

22 


WAFFLES  AND  A    WALK  23 

"  I  mean  that  night  comes  nowadays  very  soon  after 
we  come  home  from  school.  Why  are  the  days  so  short 
in  winter,  Uncle  Roy,  just  when  we  need  the  sun  to 
warm  us,  and  so  long  and  hot  in  summer  when  we 
want  to  be  cool  ?  " 

"  Why,  it's  the  other  way  round,"  said  Rap  ;  "  it  is 
because  the  sun  stays  up  so  long  in  spring  and  sum- 
mer that  the  days  are  warm,  and  because  it  comes  so 
late,  and  hurries  to  bed,  that  the  days  are  cold." 

"  But  why  does  the  sun  stay  longer  some  times  than 
others  ?     Why  need  the  days  ever  be  so  very  short  ?  " 

"  Your  supper  would  grow  cold  if  I  stopped  to 
explain,"  said  the  Doctor.  "  Some  day  we  must  make 
ourselves  into  a  class  in  astronomy  and  learn  how 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  all  go  bowling  about  in 
the  sky,  and  how  the  old  earth  looked  when  she  was 
young." 

"  There  is  the  moon  now.  Oh,  how  fat  it  is  to- 
night," said  Dodo,  looking  toward  a  window  where  the 
curtains  had  not  been  drawn. 

"  The  hunter's  moon,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  "  and  many  a 
good  time  I've  had  by  the  light  of  it." 

"Why  is  it  called  hunter's  moon,  daddy,"  asked 
Dodo,  "  and  what  did  you  do  with  the  light  of  it  ?  " 

"  It  is  the  moon  that  comes  in  October  when  all  the 
game  birds  and  wild  food  and  fur  beasts  are  through 
raising  their  families,  and  it  is  fair  for  House  People 
who  need  fur  or  food  to  go  and  hunt  them." 

"  Did  you  ever  need  food  and  fur,  daddy  ? "  per- 
sisted Dodo. 

"Yes,  sometimes  I  really  did;  and  should  have 
starved  except  for  my  gun  and  what  it  brought  me  ; 


24  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

and  sometimes  perhaps  I  thought  I  did,"  said  Mr.  Blake, 
looking  at  the  Doctor,  who  was  shaking  with  laughter. 

"  Did  you  ever  shoot  anything  just  to  see  if  you 
could  hit  it  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  Yes  ;  I'm  afraid  I  did  often,  before  I  had  travelled 
over  the  wild  west  country  and  learned  for  myself  that 
shooting  food  and  fur  beasts  to  '  see  what  you  can  hit,' 
is  making  this  wonderful  land  of  ours  as  bare  of  four- 
footed  things  as  it  will  be  of  birds." 

"  Say,  Mis'  Cherry,  can  de  young  mis  hab  a  spoon  o' 
jam  'long  o'  dere  waffles  ?  "  asked  Mammy  Bun  in  what 
was  meant  to  be  a  whisper,  popping  her  head  in  at  the 
door. 

"  I'm  afraid  not,  to-night,  mammy,"  said  Mrs.  Blake, 
whose  girlish  name  of  Cherry,  mammy  still  used. 
"We  should  have  the  children  dreaming  of  Buffaloes 
and  Indians  and  rolling  out  of  bed.  Waffles  are  quite 
enough." 

"  But  Mammy  Bun's  waffles  are  such  well-behaved 
things  that  they  never  hurt  anybody,"  said  Olive. 

"  Yes,"  echoed  Dodo,  "  mammy  says  it's  all  in  the 
beating  up  ;  if  you  beat  waffles  ever  so  hard  when 
you're  making  them,  they'll  never  talk  back  after  you 
eat  them.  I  know  something  that  does  talk  back, 
though  —  it's  turnips  if  you  eat  them  raw  like  apples, 
and  chew  rather  quick  and  then  drink  water.  Oh,  it 
was  dreadful  !  " 

"So,  missy  has  been  having  indigestion,  lias  she?" 
laughed  the  Doctor. 

"  Yes  ;  if  that  name  means  that  inside  your  chest  is 
too  big  for  your  skin.  What  makes  indigestion,  Uncle 
Roy?" 


WAFFLES  AND  A    WALK  25 

"  Indigestion  comes  when  the  food  you  eat  is  not  of 
the  right  kind  or  quality  for  your  stomach  mill  to  turn 
into  good  flesh  and  blood.  Then  it  stays  in  the  mill, 
swelling  up,  growing  stale  and  sour,  choking  up  the 
little  wheels,  and  souring  the  wheel  grease  that  helps 
them  move,  causing  pain  and  sickness,  until  it  is  turned 
out  in  some  way.  That  is  the  reason  why  we  should 
be  careful  what  we  put  into  the  mill. 

"  To  make  sure  that  mammy's  waffles  do  not  grumble, 
suppose  we  all  take  a  little  walk  down  the  road  before 
we  go  into  the  wonder  room  to  draw  the  animal  tree. 
"  Come,  Cherry,"  said  the  Doctor,  drawing  Mrs.  Blake's 
hand  through  his  arm,  "  you,  too.  I'm  not  going  to 
have  you  stay  in  the  house  all  the  time.  We  need  you, 
and  you  need  the  fresh  air  to  give  you  back  the  red 
cheeks  that  gave  you  your  pet  name.  Olive,  dear, 
please  get  your  aunt's  warm  wrap  —  never  mind  gloves  ; 
here  is  a  coat-pocket  for  each  hand,"  and  the  proces- 
sion stepped  out  into  the  bright  moon  path. 

"  There  will  be  no  frost  until  this  wind  dies  down," 
said  Mr.  Blake. 

"  What  nice  clean  shadows  the  trees  make,"  said 
Olive,  after  they  had  walked  in  silence  down  a  lane  that 
led  from  the  turnpike  toward  the  pastures  and  spring. 

"  Hush  !  what  was  that  ?  " 

"  A  bird,  maybe,  that  was  sleepy  and  fell  off  its 
perch." 

"  No,  •  a  Flying  Squirrel,"  whispered  the  Doctor. 
"  There  it  goes  !  "  and  on  looking  up  they  saw  a  dark 
object,  a  little  larger  than  a  Chipmunk,  half  spring, 
half  drop  from  a  birch  tree  on  one  side  of  the  lane  to 
a  maple  on  the  opposite  side. 


26  FOUR-FOOTED   AMEBICANS 

"  Can  Squirrels  fly  ?  I  thought  only  birds  could  do 
that,"  whispered  Dodo,  awe-struck. 

"  Look  yonder,  but  keep  very  still,"  said  Mr.  Blake, 
holding  back  some  branches  that  hid  the  view  of  the 
spring. 

"It  is  a  little  dog  drinking,"  said  Nat.  "What  a 
bushy  tail  he  has.  See,  he  is  going  over  toward  the 
barns  ;  perhaps  he  is  a  friend  of  Quick,  or  Mr.  Wolf." 

"  No,  it  is  a  Fox,  and  he  is  going  to  see  where  the 
chickens  live." 

"  A  Fox  !  "  screamed  Dodo,  forgetting  the  need  for 
silence.  "  A  real  wild  animal  !  Oh,  uncle,  do  let  us 
catch  it  !  " 

"  I  very  much  wish  jou  would,"  said  the  Doctor, 
as  the  Fox  raised  one  paw,  sniffed  the  air,  and  disap- 
peared like  magic  between  some  Ioav  bushes. 

"  He  is  the  most  cunning  of  our  beasts,  and  if  the 
wind  had  been  the  other  way,  he  would  not  have  given 
us  even  this  peep  at  him." 

"  What  difference  does  the  wind  make  ?  "  asked  Nat. 
"  Is  he  afraid  of  it  ?  " 

"  I  know,"  said  Rap  ;  "  for  before  my  leg  was  hurt 
I  went  often  with  the  miller  and  his  dog  to  hunt  Foxes 
that  stole  his  turkeys.  Little  wild  beasts  look  for 
food  mostly  at  night,  or  late  in  the  afternoon,  or  early 
in  the  morning,  when  it  isn't  so  easy  to  see,  so  they  use 
their  smeller  to  tell  them  a  great  many  things  that 
they  can't  see  with  their  eyes.  They  can  smell  so  well 
that  if  the  wind  was  blowing  from  us  to  them  they 
would  know  we  are  here  and  would  run  away." 

"  That  is  right,  my  lad,"  said  the  Doctor.  "  The 
wild  beasts  have  a  much  keener  sense  of  smell  and 


WAFFLES  AND  A    WALK  27 

hearing  than  we  House  People,  and  3^011  will  do  well 
when  you  wish  to  watch  even  a  Squirrel  to  keep  from 
stepping  on  a  dry  leaf  and  to  see  which  way  the  wind 
blows." 

"■Only  think,  we've  seen  a  real  wild  animal,"  chuckled 
Dodo  to  Nat. 

"I've  seen  a  Coon  and  a  Muskrat  and  a  Mink,"  said 
Rap,  "besides  Foxes  and  Squirrels." 

"  I  know  what  Mink  is,"  said  Dodo  ;  "  it's  nice 
brown  fur,  and  I  have  some  of  it  on  my  winter  coat. 

"  Uncle  Roy  is  going  to  take  us  to  the  old  log  camp  in 
the  Owl  woods  some  day,  and  there  are  fur  beasts  up 
around  there,  he  says." 

"  Daddy  has  been  all  about  the  wild  west  country  on 
business,  and  he  has  seen  dreadful  fierce,  wild  animals, 
and  he  is  going  to  tell  us  about  them  by  and  by.  You 
know  daddy  goes  round  to  find  out  about  the  country 
and  look  for  mines  that  are  hidden  in  the  ground," 
explained  Nat  to  Rap,  "  and  that's  why  we  haven't  seen 
much  of  him  for  a  long  time.  You  see  mines  are  often 
in  very  savage  places,  and  now  daddy  is  staying  here 
this  winter  to  write  down  all  he  has  seen  and  draw 
plans  for  people  to  work  by  in  the  spring." 

"Oh,  then  your  father  is  a  miner,"  said  Rap  ;  "I've 
read  about  them." 

"  No,  a  miner  is  the  man  that  digs  with  a  pick  and 
shovel ;  daddy  is  the  one  who  digs  with  his  brain  and 
tells  the  miner  how  to  work  so  that  the  earth  won't 
fall  in  on  him,  and  how  to  cut  away  the  rock  and  get 
to  the  treasure.  Daddy  is  what  they  call  a  Mining 
Engineer  !  "  and  Nat  stopped  suddenly,  as  if  the  two 
big  words  were  too  much  for  him. 


28  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Some  clay  I  suppose  you  will  go  with  him  and  see 
all  these  things.  It  is  nice  to  have  two  legs,"  said 
Rap,  half  sadly,  looking  at  his  crutch. 

"Never  mind  ;  we  will  be  partners.  I  will  go  out 
and  hunt,  and  you  shall  write  the  book  about  it  the  way 
uncle  does,  for  I  don't  like  to  write." 

"  I  do,"  said  Rap,  cheering  up  ;  "  that  will  be  splen- 
did."  .. 

"Don't  try  to  walk  through  the  fence,"  said  Olive. 

Then  the  children  found  that  they  had  been  so  busy 
talking  that  they  did  not  realize  they  were  walking 
back  toward  the  farm,  until  they  had  bumped  into  the 
front  fence  instead  of  opening  the  gate. 

The  log  fire  in  the  wonder  room  was  not  a  bit  too 
warm,  and  as  they  gathered  around  it  Mr.  Wolf  and 
Quick  came  in  from  the  kitchen  licking  their  lips,  as  if 
they  had  been  so  busy  with  supper  that  they  had  not 
missed  their  friends. 

Wolf  settled  himself  at  Mrs.  Blake's  feet  with  all  the 
dignity  of  a  St.  Bernard,  but  Quick  kept  prancing  and 
springing  from  one  to  another  with  Fox-Terrier  ner- 
vousness. 

"  In  the  spring  when  we  began  to  learn  about  birds, 
I  told  you  a  few  facts  about  their  bones  and  feathers, 
the  way  in  which  they  were  made  and  for  what  they 
were  useful,"  said  Dr.  Roy,  sitting  at  his  desk  and  tip- 
ping back  his  chair.  "  We  found  the  bird  was  a  good 
American  citizen,  and  I  think  you  feel  now  as  if  you 
really  had  a  bowing  acquaintance  with  some  of  these 
feathered  folk." 

"  Yes,"  said  Dodo,  "  I  forget  some  things  you  said 
about  them  for  a  while,  and  then  I  remember  again. 


WAFFLES  AND  A    WALK  29 

We  saw  a  Screech  Owl  in  the  woods  yesterday,  and  I 
remembered  its  name  right  off,  and  that  it  was  one  of 
the  good  Owls  that  mustn't  be  shot." 

"  Good  girl,  that  encourages  your  old  uncle  to  tell 
you  more  stories  this  winter  about  some  of  the  other 
creatures  that  are  branches  of  the  wonderful  animal 
tree." 

Nat  and  Rap  brightened  up,  and  Olive  said  she 
could  not  imagine  anything  pleasanter  for  winter  even- 
ings. 

"  But  we  have  to  do  our  lessons  in  the  evenings," 
said  Nat,  dolefully. 

"  Uncle  Roy  will  manage  it  somehow,"  said  Dodo, 
shaking  her  head  confidently;  "there  is  a  surprise 
somewhere,  I  know.  I've  been  expecting  it."  At  this 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blake  and  the  Doctor  smiled,  but  said 
nothing.' 

"Uncle  Roy,"  persisted  Dodo,  after  a  pause,  "won't 
you  do  as  you  did  with  the  birds,  and  tell  us  about 
the  wild  American  animals  instead  of  about  menagerie 
beasts,  and  then  make  us  a  book  about  them  ?  There 
must  be  as  many  as  fifty  kinds  of  usual  animals  in 
America,  counting  all  those  in  the  west  country.  I'm 
so  tired  of  menagerie  beasts  — 

"  '  L  is  for  Lion  who  roars  in  his  rage, 
T  is  for  Tiger  who  snarls  in  his  cage,' 

that  was  on  my  picture  blocks  when  I  was  a  little  child. 
I  had  picture  books  of  Cockatoos  and  other  strange 
birds,  too,  but  they  never  seemed  to  mean  anything 
until  you  told  us  about  our  American  birds." 

"  You  are  right,  Dodo,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  and  you 


30  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

have  given  me  some  new  ideas  for  my  surprise.  Yes, 
there  is  a  surprise  hiding  somewhere  near  !  We  are 
to  have  a  winter  camp  here  at  the  farm,  and  the 
stories  told  at  the  campfire  shall  all  be  about  four- 
footed  Americans,  with  a  few  about  some  no-footed 
and  wing-handed  ones  thrown  in." 


IV 


CLIMBING  THE   ANIMAL   TREE 

PLENDID!"    cried  Nat  and  Rap  to- 
gether, as  soon  as  they  realized  what 
Dr.  Roy  said.     "  When  shall  we  have 
the  stories  ?  " 

"  What  is  a  campfire  ?     Is  it  made 
of  logs  or  coal  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  Where    are    you   going   to  have 
the    camp?      Here    in    the    wonder 
room  ? "    asked    Olive,    who    was    as 
much  surprised  as  her  cousins. 

"  What  are  no-footed  Americans,  fishes  ?  "  persisted 
Dodo. 

"Fishes  have  no  feet,  and  yet  these  no-footed  beasts 
are  not  fishes.  The  Americans  you  shall  hear  about 
will  all  be  our  blood  brothers,  the  Mammals  —  the 
highest  branch  of  the  animal  tree,  the  one  that  I 
said  has  so  many  smaller  branches  that  it  seems  almost 
like  a  whole  tree  by  itself." 

"  M  —  mammals;  m  —  milk,"  said  Dodo,  proud  at 
not  having  forgotten.  "  But,  Uncle  Roy,  we  can't 
see  all  these  M  —  mammals  outdoors,  as  we  did  the 
birds,  and  there  aren't  any  here  in  your  wonder  room. 
How  can  Ave  tell  how  they  look  ?  " 

"  You  will   probably  see  some  of    the   smaller    ones 

81 


32  FOUR-FOOTED  AMEBIC  AN  S 

this  winter,  just  as  you  saw  the  Fox  to-night.  I 
have  the  skins  of  others  packed  away  in  chests ;  and 
some  you  must  learn  to  know  hj  pictures,  until  you 
have  a  chance  to  see  them  in  the  Zoo  or  in  a  Museum. 

"  No  more  questions  to-night.  You  will  hear  more 
about  the  surprise  to-morrow.  Now  I  must  try  to 
tell  you  how  to  climb  the  animal  tree,  so  that  you  may 
step  easily  from  branch  to  branch  and  have  a  general 
understanding  of  its  groups  and  families." 

"  This  will  be  harder  than  learning  about  bones 
and  feathers  that  built  the  bird." 

"  Yes  and  no  !  When  you  began  to  learn  the 
geography  of  our  country,  what  was  the  first  map 
you  saw,  Nat  ?  A  map  of  one  state,  with  all  the 
mountains,  rivers,  cities,  and  towns,  large  and  small  ?  " 

"  Ah,  no,  uncle  ;  a  plain,  easy  map  of  the  whole  of 
North  America,  with  only  the  very  big  chief  moun- 
tains, rivers,  and  land  divisions  put  down.  It  took 
us  a  long  time  only  to  learn  the  names  of  the  states 
and  how  they  were  bounded  ;  then  by  and  by  we 
took  them  in  groups,  until  at  this  school  we  are  hav- 
ing each  state  by  itself." 

"  Precisely.  Now,  in  drawing  this  animal  tree,  I 
will  not  put  down  all  small  branches  and  twigs,  but 
merely  the  chief  branches,  so  that  you  may  have  what 
is  called  a  'general  idea'  of  the  whole.  Then  from 
time  to  time  you  can  study  by  itself  any  branch  that 
particularly  interests  you. 

"  Now  watch,"  said  the  Doctor,  drawing  rapidly  on 
a  large  sheet  of  cardboard.  "Your  old  uncle  is  no 
draughtsman,  but  this  Avill  do  for  a  beginning,  and  I 
will  copy  it  neatly  by  and   by,  so  that  we  can  hang 


CLIMBING    THE  ANIMAL    TREE  33 

it  on  the  wall  of  our  camp.  This  animal  tree  has  a 
straight  trunk,  and  first  come  eight  brandies." 

"  Ah  !  Ah  !  "  cried  Dodo.  "  Mother  !  Daddy  ! 
Come  and  look  !  Uncle  is  making  each  branch  end 
in  an  animal,  so  we  can  see  with  one  peep  where 
they  belong,  and  the  little  first  animal  that  belongs  to 
the  trunk  hasn't  any  more  shape  than  an  ink  blot  ! 

"  What  is  that  queer  little  spot,  uncle  ?  Has  it 
a  name  ?  All  !  now  you  are  writing  the  name  on 
each  branch,"  chattered  Dodo. 

After  everybody  had  looked  at  the  sketch  of  the 
animal  tree,  the  Doctor  hung  it  up  on  the  door,  and 
said  he  would  try  to  answer  a  few  of  their  questions 
about  it. 

"  These,"  said  the  Doctor,  pointing  to  the  lower 
branches  of  the  tree  that  he  had  drawn,  "  are  the 
animals  which  have  no  backbones,  —  Invertebrates,  the 
Wise  Men  call  them,  —  and  though  I  do  not  want 
to  trouble  you  with  long  names,  you  must  try  to 
remember  this  one,  because  it  is  important  and  you 
will  meet  it  often  in  reading. 

"  With  these  branches  begin  the  lowest  forms  of 
animal  life.  This  little  thing  on  the  trunk  that  Dodo 
called  an  ink  blot  is  the  very  first  form  of  animal  life, 
it  is  called  a  Protozoan,  and  it  is  really  so  small  that 
you  could  not  see  it  without  a  microscope." 

"  That  is  a  pretty  big  name  for  next-to-nothing," 
said  Rap. 

"  Yes ;  but  the  name,  like  many  of  those  the  Wise 
Men  give,  explains  the  meaning.  It  comes  from  the 
Greek  words  protos  (first)  and  zoon  (animal),  so  among 
ourselves  we  will  call  the  trunk  of  the  tree  the  first 


34  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

animal,  as  it  is  tlie  first  step  from  the  vegetable  to 
the  animal  kingdom." 

"  If  it  is  so  small  and  has  so  little  body,  how  can 
you  tell  it  isn't  a  vegetable  ? "  asked  Olive. 

"  It  is  very  difficult  indeed  to  distinguish  between 
the  lower  forms  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  and  we 
must  leave  the  reason  why  to  the  AVise  Men :  for  it 
puzzles  them  very  often,  and  I  could  not  explain  it 
without  using  long  words." 

"  Why,  Uncle  Roy,"  said  Dodo,  "  I  know  a  real 
simple  reason,  —  animals  can  move  and  plants  can't  !  " 

"  Wrong,  missy ;  many  of  the  lower  animals  cannot 
move.  The  coral,  for  instance,  and  the  oysters,  are  as 
much  fixtures  as  the  geraniums  in  their  pots  over  by 
the  window. 

"  But  to  return  to  our  animal  tree.  Besides  having 
no  backbones,  these  lower  animals  have  no  hearts, 
lungs,  or  brains  ;  they  are  not  built  around  a  bony 
skeleton,  as  birds  are  or  we  ourselves.  Their  vital 
parts  are  held  in  a  single  tube.  These  animals  are 
of  various  shapes  and  live  in  many  ways  and  places, 
—  on  the  earth,  in  the  water,  and  in  mud.  Among 
the  lower  branches  of  the  animal  tree,  you  will  find 
things  that  are  familiar  to  you,  though  you  probably 
never  have  thought  what  they  were,  whether  animals 
or  vegetables. 

"  To  repeat  all  the  names,  even  of  the  animals  that 
belong  on  each  branch,  would  confuse  and  tire  you 
sadly,  so  I  will  only  tell  you  of  some  of  the  principal 
kinds  that  you  are  most  likely  to  see,  to  act  as  steps,  so 
to  speak,  by  which  you  may  climb  to  the  branch  where 
our  four-footed  Americans  live. 


CLIMBING    THE  ANIMAL    TREE 


35 


"  On  the  next  branch  to  the  trunk,  or  First  Animal, 
belong  the  Sponges ;  they  are  plant-like  water  animals 
that  cannot  move.  Then  the  Jelly  Fishes  and  Sea 
Anemones,  which  are  masses  of  clear,  jelly-like  stuff 
floating  in  the  sea,  and  many  of  these  are  beautifully 
colored." 

"  I  saw  some  Jelly  Fish  when  we  were  at  the  shore  this 
summer,"  said  Dodo.  "  I  walked  on  some,  and  though 
they  felt  so  slimy  they  sort  of  made  my  feet  tingle." 

"  Olive,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  suppose  you  take  out  the 
blackboard  and  write  the  names  of  these  lower  branches 
who  have  no  backbones." 


THE  TRUNK  AND  SOME  OF  THE  LOWER  BRANCHES 
OF   THE   ANIMAL   TREE 


Protozoa  or 
First  Animals 

1.  Sponges  .  .  .  . 

2.  Jelly  Fishes  .  . 

3.  Corals 


4.  Star  Fishes  . 

5.  Worms  .... 


The  trunk.  The  lowest  form  of  animal  life, 
body;  a  single  cell.  Most  of  them  too  small 
to  be  seen  without  microscope. 

Plant-like  water  animals  that  cannot  move. 

Round  masses  of  clear,  jelly-like  stuff  floating  in 
the  sea.     Sea  Anemones,  etc. 

The  white,  lace-like  specimens  that  you  have 
seen  in  cabinets,  or  the  polished  pink  sprays 
thaf  are  made  into  ornaments  or  carved  into 
beads.  You  may  have  thought  these  some 
sort  of  stones,  but  corals  are  tiny,  soft-bodied 
animals  living  in  cases  made  of  lime.  Many 
of  these  cases  built  up  close  together  form  the 
beautiful  shapes  that  you  know. 

The  five-pointed  prickly  animals  found  on  sea 
beaches.     Sea  Urchins,  etc.     Crinoids,  etc. 

Long  squirming  animals,  of  both  land  and 
water ;  also  living  as  parasites  upon  the  in- 
sides  of  other  animals. 


36  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

6.  Mollusks.  .  .  .  Shell  Fish,  such  as  Oysters,  Clams  and  Mussels, 

Snails,  Slugs,  Cuttle  Fish,  etc. 

7.  Crustaceans  .  .  Animals    covered   with    a   hard    shell,    having 

many  legs  and  a  pair  of  feelers,  or  antenna;, 
breathing  through  gills  the  air  that  is  dis- 
solved in  the  water.  Lobsters,  Crabs,  etc., 
are  Crustaceans. 

8.  Spiders  and         (Called  Arachnidae,  from  Arachne,  the  Spinner, 
Scorpions   .  .  .       because   they   spin   webs.)       Are   a   sort   of 

cousin  to  Crabs,  but  live  on  the  earth  instead 
of  in  the  water. 

"  The  top  branches  of  this  group  contain  the  Insects, 
with  many  legs,  their  bodies  being  divided  into  three 
parts.  Insects  go  through  many  changes  in  the  course 
of  development.  Take  the  butterfly  as  an  example. 
First  an  egg  is  laid  by  a  fully  grown  butterfly  ;  second, 
a  caterpillar  is  hatched  from  the  egg ;  third,  the  cater- 
pillar spins  itself  into  a  chrysalis,  or  cocoon,  out  of 
which  comes  the  winged  butterfly.  Ants,  mosquitoes, 
flies,  and  beetles  are  all  insects. 

"  Among  the  next  circle  of  branches  we  find  the  ani- 
mals having  backbones,  the  Vertebrates.  I  think  you 
will  feel  more  at  home  with  them,  and  we  are  more 
nearly  concerned  with  them  now,  as  our  mammals  be- 
long in  this  order,  although  there  are  many  things  you 
must  some  day  learn  of  the  many  backboneless  twigs, 
especially  about  the  insects  with  their  wonderful  wings 
and  stings." 

"  I  suppose  my  Rattlesnake  is  a  rather  low-down  Ver- 
tebrate, Uncle  Roy,"  said  Nat. 

"No,  my  boy,  there  are  two  grades  below  him  and 
two  above.  See,"  —  and  the  Doctor  drew  a  branch 
with  five  divisions. 


Vertebrate  Branches  of  the   Animal   Tree. 
37 


38 


FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 


THE   VERTEBRATE   BRANCHES   OF   THE   ANIMAL 
TREE 

ANIMALS   HAVING    BACKBONES 

Animals  with  bony  skeletons ;  never  having  more  than  two 
pairs  of  limbs.  These  animals  inhabit  both  land  and  water,  and 
may  either  swim,  fly,  crawl,  or  walk. 

Fishes  ....  Cold-blooded  animals  that  live  in  water;  usually 
covered  with  scales.  They  breathe  through  gills, 
and  in  their  fins  we  see  the  very  beginnings  of 
limbs. 

Frogs,  etc.  .  .  (Amphibians.)  Going  through  several  transforma- 
tions, from  egg  to  perfect  animal,  but  having  legs 
when  fully  grown.  The  stepping-stones  between 
fishes  and  reptiles. 

Reptiles  .  .  .  Cold-blooded,  egg-laying  animals,  either  with  a  shell 
or  scaly  covering,  living  on  land  or  in  the  water; 
some  kinds  doing  both.  They  have  simple,  three- 
chambered  hearts.  Alligators,  Turtles,  and  Snakes 
are  Reptiles. 

Birds Warm-blooded,  air-breathing   animals.       They   are 

covered  with  feathers,  have  four-chambered  hearts, 
and  the  young  are  hatched  from  eggs. 

Mammals  .  .  The  highest  order  of  animals.  Warm-blooded,  air- 
breathing,  having  a  four-chambered  heart  and 
double  circulation.  The  young  are  born  alive  and 
nourished  by  their  mother's  milk.  Mammals  are 
all  more  or  less  covered  with  hair.  The  Whale, 
Seal.  Cat,  Cow,  Dog,  Rabbit,  Mouse,  Bat,  Monkey, 
and  Man  are  Mammals. 

"The  Mammal  branch  is  so  large  and  important  and 
has  so  many  small  branches  and  twigs  of  its  own  that 
by  and  by  I  shall  make  yon  a  tree  of  it  by  itself." 

"  Are  yon  going  to  draw  the  Mammal  tree  to-night  ?  " 
asked  Dodo,  anxiously.  "  Because  I  think  my  head  is 
as  full  of  thinking  as  it  will  hold.1' 


CLIMBING    THE  ANIMAL    TREE  39 

"  No,  missy,  not  another  word  to-night ;  it  is  half- 
past  eight,  and  your  mother  has  been  making  '  time-to- 
go-to-bed' signs  at  me  for  half  an  hour." 

"  But,  mother,"  pleaded  Dodo,  "  though  my  head  is 
full,  my  stomach  feels  real  hollow,  and  we  were  going 
to  toast  crackers,  you  know." 

"  Very  well !  Nat,  rake  open  the  hot  ashes  and  see 
if  you  can  find  another  pair  of  tongs.  Two  crackers 
and  a  glass  of  milk  make  a  very  comfortable  night- 
cap ;  for  if  you  go  to  bed  with  an  empty  stomach,  you 
will  probably  wake  up  with  an  empty  head,"  said  the 
Doctor,  rubbing  his  hands  together.  "  Am  I  invited  to 
this  feast  ?  " 

"  Of  course  ;  you  and  mother  and  daddy.  Olive 
belongs  with  us  children.  It  wouldn't  be  a  real  feast 
without  you  all,"  said  Dodo,  a  look  of  perfect  content 
resting  on  her  round  face. 

"  Here  are  three  pairs  of  tongs.  Nat,  you  toast  for 
mamma,  and  Rap  for  uncle,  and  I'll  toast  for  papa  and 
Olive  ;  then  afterwards  we  can  toast  for  each  other. 
It's  lots  more  fun  doing  it  for  somebody  else,  and  then 
having  somebody  do  it  for  you." 

In  a  moment  the  three  children  were  crouching  in 
front  of  the  fire,  holding  the  crackers  by  the  rims  with 
old-fashioned  tongs,  over  the  bed  of  glowing  hickory 
fragments. 

"  The  crackers  that  fall  into  the  fire  belong  to  the 
dogs,"  said  Dodo,  consolingly,  to  Rap,  who  had  just 
dropped  his  first  one.  "They  don't  mind  a  few 
ashes." 

"  Here  is  mammy  with  the  big  pitcher,"  said  the 
Doctor.     "  Now  all  stand  in  a  row  and  drink  a  health, 


40  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

in  milk,  to  home,  and  the  blood-brothers  whose 
acquaintance  we  are  to  make  —  the  Four-Footed 
Americans." 

"  Is  Rap  going  to  stay  here  all  night  ?  "  asked  Nat, 
as  they  put  down  their  glasses. 

"  No ;  his  mother  would  worry.  Your  father  and  I 
will  walk  home  with  him;  we  have  some  things  to  talk 
over/' 

"  Is  it  anything  to  do  with  the  surprise  ? "  asked 
Dodo. 

"  Miss  Inquisitive,  if  you  poke  your  precious  nose 
so  far  into  things,  some  day  it  may  be  shut  in  the  crack 
of  a  door,"  laughed  her  father. 

"Ah  !  the  wind  has  fallen  and  the  frost  has  come. 
I'm  glad  Rod  covered  those  pumpkins,"  said  the 
Doctor,  who  was  already  out  on  the  porch. 

"  Then  we  can  go  nutting  to-morrow,"  said  Nat, 
capering.     "Come  up  early,  Rap." 

"  We  shall  go  nutting  to-morrow,  but  Rap  need  not 
come  up  ;  Ave  will  call  for  him,"  said  the  Doctor. 

"  But  the  chestnuts  are  all  up  this  way,"  persisted 
Dodo. 

"I  did  not  say  we  were  going  che&tnutting"  replied 
the  Doctor,  closing  the  door  so  suddenly,  that  if  Dodo's 
nose  had  been  anything  longer  than  a  pug  it  might 
really  have  been  squeezed  in  the  crack. 

"  M  —  mammals;  m  —  milk,"  she  half  sang,  half 
whispered,  as  she  stumbled  sleepily  up  to  bed,  hanging 
on  her  mother's  arm. 


AN   AUTUMN   HOLIDAY 


>HEN    Nat    awoke    the    next 

morning,  he  lay  quite   still 

for  a  moment,  rubbing  his 

eyes  and  wondering  what 

it  was  that  he  was  trying 

to  remember. 

He  did  not  seem  to  be  in 
any  more  of  a  hurry  to  get 
up  than  the  sun,  who  was 
only  beginning  to  peep 
through  the  most  southerly  corner  of  the  orchard  trees, 
instead  of  being  up  above  them  at  this  hour,  as  had 
been  his  habit  all  summer. 

Nat  finally  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  toward  the 
window,  still  half  dreaming  about  Wild  West  Shows, 
animal  trees,  and  four-footed  Americans,  wondering 
why  the  light  was  so  speckled.  Then  as  he  saw  the 
frost  crystals  that  covered  the  panes  with  their  beauti- 
ful fern  traceries,  it  all  came  back  like  a  flash,  and  he 
jumped  out,  shouting,  tk  There's  been  a  hard  frost,  and 
we  are  to  go  nutting  to-day,  and  hear  about  the 
surprise  !  " 

At  the  same  moment  Dodo's  sturdy  fist  pounded  on 
the  door.      Bang,  bang,  bang  !      "  Aren't    you  up  yet, 

41 


42  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

Nattie?  I  am,  and  all  dressed."  Bang.  "My  boots 
laced  to  the  very  top,  and  my  teeth  cleaned  with 
powder."  Bang,  bang,  bang  !  Lacing  her  boots  and 
cleaning  her  teeth  were  usually  two  weak  spots  in 
Dodo's  toilet,  and  the  fact  that  she  had  done  both  so 
early  in  the  morning  made  Nat  feel  sure  that  some- 
thing unusual  was  afoot. 

"  Yes,  I'm  up,"  said  Nat,  "  and  I'll  be  ready  in  a 
minute." 

"  Father  says,  put  on  your  thick  very  old  clothes, 
and  the  old  boots  with  the  scraped  skin." 

"Where  are  we  ffoing'  ?  Was  there  a  bier  frost?" 
spluttered  Nat,  straggling  with  his  sponge  full  of  water. 

"Uncle  Roy  said  he  would  tell  when  we  are  all 
dressed.  I  can't  seem  to  make  Olive  hurry  one  bit, 
and  breakfast  will  be  at  seven,  and  it's  a  quarter  to, 
now.  Only  look  out,  and  you'll  see  what  kind  of  a 
frost  there  was,"  —  and  Nat  could  hear  the  squeak  and 
flop  that  she  made  as  she  slid  down  the  bannisters  and 
landed  on  the  rug  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs. 

He  wiped  off  the  frost  with  his  towel  and  looked 
out.  Near  the  house  everything  was  glittering  with 
diamonds,  for  Jack  Frost  had  only  fingered  the  nearby 
things,  but  down  in  the  low  pasture  by  the  spring  the 
blackened  ferns  showed  where  he  had  walked  with  his 
heaviest  boots.  There  was  quite  a  commotion  and 
bustle  over  by  the  barns.  The  long  market  wagon 
with  all  three  seats  screwed  in  place  was  pulled  out  of 
its  shed,  and  Rod  was  putting  bundles  of  straw  in  the 
bottom.  Mysterious  baskets  stood  about,  and  in  one 
Nat  thought  he  saw  a  tea-kettle.  Who  was  that  man 
in  a  queer  furry-looking  cap,  thick  short  coat,  and  leg- 


AN  AUTUMN  HOLIDAY  43 

gins  buttoned  up  to  his  knees  ?  Nat  looked  again  and 
then  exclaimed  to  himself,  "  Why,  it's  daddy,  and  the 
other  humpy-looking  man  is  uncle  !  "  Then  he  hurried 
on  with  dressing  as  the  only  means  of  solving  the 
mystery. 

This  morning  there  was  a  roaring  fire  in  the  Franklin 
stove  in  the  dining-room.  This  stove,  which  is  a  sort 
of  open  fireplace  on  legs  that  stands  out  a  little  way 
from  the  chimney,  throws  more  heat  into  the  room 
than  a  hearth  fire. 

"  Now,"  said  the  Doctor,  coming  in  with  his  arm 
around  Olive,  who  met  him  in  the  hall,  "  hold  your  ears 
wide  open  and  stand  away  from  the  table  so  that  you 
will  not  break  the  china. 

tk  We  are  going  to  the  far-away  hickory  woods,  where 
we  expected  to  go  on  Dodo's  birthday  to  look  for  owls  ! 
Stop  a  moment  !  that  is  not  all.  Instead  of  taking- 
sandwiches  and  such  things  for  lunch  we  are  going  to 
take  pots  and  pans  and  food  and  play  camp-out  and 
cook  our  dinner  and  supper  in  the  woods,  and  come 
home  by  moonlight  !  " 

"  That  will  be  fine,"  said  Olive.  "  I  half  expected 
this  last  night." 

"  Jolly  !  "  cried  Nat. 

"  But,"  said  practical  Miss  Dodo,  "  if  we  are  to  cook, 
Mammy  Bun  will  have  to  go,  and  being  out  after  dark 
will  make  her  grumble  about  her  bones." 

"  I  am  the  c-oo-k  who  is  going  with  you  to-day,"  said 
Mr.  Blake,  coming  in  ;  "  and  a  very  good  cook,  too, 
I  can  tell  you." 

"Why,  daddy,"  exclaimed  both  children,  "can  you 
cook,  and  out  in  the  woods,  without  any  stove,  too  ?  " 


44  FOUR-FOOTED    AMERICANS 

"  Indeed  I  can,  and  many's  the  day  that  your  Uncle 
Roy  and  I  have  not  only  had  to  cook  for  ourselves,  but 
catch  or  shoot  our  own  provisions,  and  as  for  stoves  — 
we  often  hadn't  even  a  bough  wind-break  over  us,  and 
slept  on  the  ground  in  our  blankets." 

"  On  the  ground  ?  And  wasn't  it  wet,  and  didn't 
things  bite  you  ?  Ah,  what  is  that  ?  Come,  look  out 
here,  Uncle  Roy.  Wolf  and  Quick  have  caught  some 
kind  of  a  wild  beast.  It's  too  small  for  a  Fox.  What 
is  it  ?  " 

"  One  of  the  big  Woodchucks  who  would  not  go 
in  the  trap  we  set  in  the  rocky  pasture,  and  who  is 
rather  late  in  holing  up.  They  generally  go  to  sleep 
for  the  winter  before  hard  frost." 

"Why  don't  they  freeze?"  said  Dodo.  "You  told 
us  once  that  it  was  very  extra  dangerous  to  go  to  sleep 
out  doors  in  cold  weather,  —  that  we  would  freeze  in  a 
twinkling." 

"  Is  that  beast  one  of  the  four-footed  Americans  you 
are  going  to  tell  us  about  ?  "  asked  Nat.  "  What  queer 
long  teeth  he  has  :  two  upper  and  two  under  ones,  with 
straight  edges,  and  no  little  pointed  ones  like  our  eye- 
teeth.  Do  the  four-footed  Americans  belong  to  guilds 
the  same  as  the  birds  do,  Uncle  Roy  ?  " 

"  Yes,  my  boy  ;  and  those  four  powerful  teeth  show 
to  what  guild  the  Woodchuck  belongs,  —  the  greatest 
guild  among  the  Mammals,  —  the  Gnawers. 

"  Mother  is  coming,"  said  Dodo,  going  to  the  stairs 
to  meet  her,  as  Mammy  Bun  came  in  the  opposite  door 
with  the  coffee-pot.  "  Now  everything  is  started, 
'cause  nothing  really  begins  right  end  up  until  mother 
comes  !  " 


The  Woodchuck. 


AN   AUTUMN  HOLIDAY  45 

The  Doctor  would  not  let  the  children  hurry  their 
breakfast,  and  Mr.  Blake  said,  "  Eat  all  you  can  now, 
for  you  may  not  like  my  cooking." 

"Are  you  not  going  to  take  some  cake  or  bread,  or 
at  least  cold  chicken  ?  "  asked  Mrs.  Blake. 

"  No,  dear  ;  not  even  bread.  Ginger  cookies  are  the 
only  cooked  food  allowed.  I  want  to  give  the  children 
a  nibble  at  the  way  people  live  who  explore,  or  hunt, 
or  for  any  other  reason  take  to  a  wild  life.  Don't 
worry  ;  we  shall  neither  starve  nor  be  out  quite  all 
night,  though  it  may  be  late  before  we  return." 

Tom  and  Jerry  were  harnessed  to  the  farm  wagon, 
so  Comet  was  left  home  by  himself.  "  You  see  this 
wagon  is  only  suitable  for  stout  horses,"  said  Tom,  with 
a  wink  to  his  mate,  as  they  drove  round  to  the  house. 

"Are  you  sure  you  have  everything?"  asked  Mrs. 
Blake,  anxiously. 

"  I  will  give  you  a  list  of  our  belongings  :  a  tea- 
kettle, a  coffee-pot,  a  frying-pan,  and  a  small  tin  kettle, 
six  tin  plates,  cups,  knives  and  forks,  salt,  pepper, 
sugar,  coffee,  flour,  part  of  a  ham,  a  dozen  eggs,  a  small 
bag  of  potatoes,  a  quart  of  beans,  a  ball  of  stout  cord, 
my  shot-gun,  a  small  axe,  a  shovel,  and  plenty  of 
matches." 

"  'Pears  like  you  uns  was  calkerlatin'  to  plant  a  gar- 
din,  wif  beans  and  p'taters  and  a  shovel,"  chuckled 
Mammy  Bun,  who  was  never  far  away  when  a  picnic 
was  about  to  start.  "  For  de  law's  sakes,  Massa  Doctor, 
do  fetch  along  a  jar  o'  sas,  —  all  dem  vittles  am  chokin' 
dry!" 

"  Mr.  Blake  is  the  cook,  and  you  know,  mammy,  cooks 
don't  like  to  be  interfered  with." 


46  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"No  mo'  do  they,"  she  chuckled. 

***** 

They  stopped  at  Rap's  house  and  found  him  waiting, 
with  a  feed-bag,  all  ready  for  the  nuts  he  expected  to 
get. 

"  Which  way  are  the  hickory  woods  ?  "  asked  Olive  ; 
"  toward  the  shore  or  inland  ?  " 

"  Inland  and  almost  twenty  miles  due  north  of  here. 
There  was  a  logging  camp  there  years  ago.  I  am  sure 
that  you  have  never  been  in  that  direction." 

"  Is  there  any  river  in  the  woods  ? "  asked  Rap. 
"Perhaps  we  may  see  some  wild  ducks." 

"  There  is  a  strong,  swift  river  beyond  where  we  are 
going,  though  I  am  not  sure  that  we  shall  get  so  far  to- 
day, but  there  is  a  small  river  and  pond  near  the  hick- 
ory woods,  where  you  may  see  ducks.  It  is  by  the  big 
river  that  the  lumber  camp  is,  where  Olaf  expects  to 
stop  for  a  few  months  this  winter." 

Some  of  the  trees  that  were  almost  covered  the  day 
before  had  dropped  their  leaves  entirely  after  the  hard 
frost,  and  the  Red  Squirrels  were  chattering  and  running 
along  the  stone  fences.  One  little  fellow  was  carrying 
a  nut  in  each  cheek,  and  looked  very  comical,  as  if  he 
either  had  the  mumps  or  a  toothache. 

"  I  never  noticed  before  how  many  Squirrels  there 
are  about  here.  I  suppose  because  the  leaves  hid  them. 
Are  they  Mammals,  Uncle  Roy,  and  what  guild  do  they 
belong  to  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  Yes,  they  are  Mammals,  and  they  belong  to  the 
same  guild  as  the  Woodchuck,  —  the  Gnawers.  Watch 
that  little  fellow  as  he  sits  up  and  turns  the  nut  about 
with   his   paws,    which   he   uses    quite    as  we    do   our 


AN  AUTUMN  HOLIDAY  47 

hands.  See  how  quickly  he  gnaws  through  the  hard 
shell." 

"  So  he  does,"  cried  Nat. 

"  Chipmunks  gnawed  up  a  lot  of  our  seckle  pears 
this  year  before  they  were  ripe,"  said  Rap.  "  They 
seemed  to  want  the  seeds,  for  they  left  the  fruity  part 
chipped  up  all  over  the  grass  under  the  tree." 

"  That  is  one  of  their  habits  ;  in  fact,  the  bad  habit 
of  the  whole  guild,  that  they  destroy  much  more  than 
they  need  for  food." 

"  Most  of  the  little  beasts  hereabouts  belong  to  the 
Gnawers,  don't  they,  Doctor  !  "  asked  Rap.  "  Squirrels, 
Chipmunks,  Muskrats,  Rats,  Mice,  Woodchucks,  Rab- 
bits, and  all  such  things  ?  " 

"  Yes,  all  those  belong  to  the  Gnawers,  and  some  of 
them  we  call  vermin,  or,  as  Dodo  says,  '  Nuisance  Ani- 
mals,' who  do  more  harm  than  good.  Yet  many  of 
them  are  wonderfully  intelligent,  and  it  seems  hard 
sometimes  to  say  that  we  should  kill  even  one  of  these 
little  mischief-makers. 

"  The  great  balance  wheel  of  Nature  is  so  carefully 
made  and  well  planned  by  its  Maker  that  we  must 
always  touch  it  reverently." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  balance  wheel,  Uncle  Roy  ?  " 
asked  Nat. 

"  This,  my  lad.  In  this  world  of  ours  nothing,  from 
the  least  grain  of  sand  to  the  strongest  animal,  was 
made  for  itself  alone.  Each  thing  depends  upon  some 
other  thing,  which  is  equally  dependent  in  its  own  turn. 
So  we  may  compare  this  plan  to  a  wheel  which,  though 
it  is  made  of  many  different  parts,  —  hub,  spokes,  rim, 
and  tire,  —  would  not  be  a  useful,  perfect  wheel  if  even 


48  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

a  single  spoke  were  missing,  so  much  does  the  strength 
of  the  whole  depend  on  even  the  least  part.  We  may 
think  that  this  animal  or  that  is  of  no  use,  until  we 
find  by  experience  that  it  filled  its  place  as  a  small  but 
important  spoke  in  this  life-wheel." 

"  But,  father,"  said  Olive,  "it  is  surely  necessary  for 
us  to  kill  Rats  and  Mice  and  other  nuisance  animals  ?  " 

"  Certainly,  we  must  kill  them  now  because  the 
balance  wheel  has  been  so  disturbed  that  these  animals 
have  multiplied  out  of  their  due  proportion  and  we  have 
made  ourselves  responsible  for  their  increase.  This  is 
a  penalty  man  has  to  pay  in  many  ways  for  eating  of 
the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge.  He  has  to  labor  to 
accomplish  many  things  that  Heart  of  Nature  intended 
doing  for  him." 

"  Then  maybe  if  people  hadn't  shot  so  many  Owls 
and  good  Cannibal  Birds,  it  would  have  helped  keep 
down  the  nuisance  animals,"  ventured  Dodo.  "  Oh, 
uncle,  what  are  those  funny  little  haystacks  down  in 
the  water  in  the  marsh  meadow?  " 

"  Muskrat  huts.  Stop  a  minute,  Olive,  and  let  us 
look  at  them,"  said  the  Doctor,  shading  his  eyes  with 
his  hands.  "  The  animals  who  make  their  homes  in 
those  haystacks,  as  Dodo  calls  them,  are  very  curious 
as  well  as  both  mischievous  and  useful.  They  look 
like  something  between  the  Woodchuck  the  dogs 
brought  in  this  morning  and  a  great  Rat.  They  are 
a  little  under  a  foot  long,  and  they  can  swim  as  fast 
as  a  Duck.  Their  front  toes  have  long  claws  for 
scratching,  and  their  back  toes  webs  for  swimming. 
They  live  in  the  banks  of  rivers  and  ponds  in  summer, 
and  retire  into  these  huts,  made  of  rushes  and  old  weeds, 


AN  AUTUMN  HOLIDAY 


49 


before  winter.  They  will  suck  eggs  and  steal  poultry 
like  common  Rats.  They  have  a  stiff,  hairy-looking 
coat,  but  underneath  it  is  soft,  beautiful  fur.  Why, 
that  old  cap  your  father  is  wearing  is  Muskrat  fur  — 
where  did  you  get  it,  Blake?  " 

"  Out  West,  with  many  other  such  things  to  keep  out 
cold.     But  this  is   only  the   common  uncolored  skin  ; 


Front  Paw  and  Tail  of  Muskrat. 


the  furriers  dye  it  a  soft  brown,  selling  it  for  French 
seal,  —  and  a  very  pretty  fur  it  is,  too,  for  caps  and 
mittens." 

"  There  seem  to  be  a  good  many  wild  animals  about 
here,  even  though  it's  a  prettjr  tame  place  —  I  mean  a 
civilized  place,"  said  Nat,  correcting  himself.  "  I  never 
thought  that  we  should  find  fur  beasts  so  near  home. 
I'd  like  to  see  into  one  of  those  Muskrat  houses,  uncle." 

"  And  so  you  shall,  as  soon  as  it  is  cold  enough  for 
the  water  that  surrounds  it  to  be  frozen  so  that  we  can 
walk  to  them.  The  story  of  that  animal  and  his  cousin, 
the  Beaver,  is  enough  to  fill  a  book  all  by  itself." 

E 


50  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

After  they  had  jogged  along  a  fairly  level  road  for 
a  couple  of  hours,  the  children  asking  questions  and 
begging  to  get  out  at  intervals,  to  pick  up  some  par- 
ticularly nice  apple  that  had  fallen  outside  a  fence  and 
been  passed  by  in  the  general  harvest,  they  turned  into 
a  lane  road  with  turf  between  the  wheel  tracks.  The 
ground  now  began  to  rise  in  a  zig-zag  fashion  between 
a  wall  of  hemlock  and  pine  trees,  under  which  were 
mats  of  ground  pine,  partridge  berry,  and  wintergreen. 

Whirr- whirr,  and  a  pair  of  large  brownish  birds  flew 
up  from  the  roadside  and  disappeared  in  some  bushes. 

"What  were  those  birds  as  big  as  chickens?" 
screamed  Dodo.  "  Oh,  why  didn't  some  one  catch 
them  ?     They  went  right  by  your  nose,  Olive  !  " 

"  I  think  partly  because  I  was  as  much  surprised  as 
they  were,"  laughed  Olive. 

"  As  fine  a  pair  of  Ruffed  Grouse  as  one  could  wish 
for  dinner,"  said  Mr.  Blake. 

"  Ah,  papa,  you  wouldn't  eat  them  ?  "  Availed  Dodo. 

"  Why  not,  girlie  ?  They  are  game  birds  made  for 
food ;  their  nesting  is  over,  and  this  is  the  season  that 
the  Wise  Men  say  we  may  take  them  by  fair  hunting." 

"  What  is  fair  hunting  ?  I  don't  think  any  hunting 
is  fair." 

"Using  no  trap  or  snare,  but  following  the  game 
afoot,  if  it  be  birds  with  gun  and  dog,  killing  no  more 
than  you  need.  If  it  is  a  Deer,  Elk,  Moose,  or  Ante- 
lope, using  your  own  perseverance  and  rifle  without  a 
dog,  and  never  taking  a  doe  or  fawn  unless  absolute 
starvation  stares  you  in  the  face." 

"  But  if  you  are  trying  to  kill  nuisance  animals  ? " 
asked  Rap. 


AN  AUTUMN  HOLIDAY  51 

"Then  use  gun,  trap,  snare,  poison,  or  any  other 
means  you  have  ;  but  never  put  a  nuisance  animal  to 
torture  —  never  leave  even  a  rat  to  die  miserably  in  a 
trap." 

"  I  guess  I'll  let  you  do  my  hunting  for  me,  daddy," 
said  Dodo,  duly  impressed.  "  I'd  rather  not  kill  any- 
thing myself." 

"  And  I  had  much  rather  you  would  not,"  said  Mr. 
Blake,  putting  his  arm  around  her.  "  Keep  your  little 
heart  tender.  There  is  greater  need  for  such  things 
than  for  game  and  guns  in  this  world  nowadays,  little 
daughter.  I  would  not  now  willingly  kill  a  big  game 
animal  n^self  and  see  the  light  fade  from  its  bright 
eyes  and  the  last  flutter  of  its  breast." 

"  It  wouldn't  be  any  harm  if  we  learned  how  to  shoot, 
would  it,  daddy  ?  "  asked  Nat.  "  'Way  back  in  the  sum- 
mer Uncle  Roy  said  perhaps  you  would  teach  me  some 
time,  and  Rap,  too,"  for  the  boys  had  long  since  become 
inseparable. 

"Certainly,  you  shall  learn  this  very  fall.  Every 
man  should  know  how  to  shoot  and  handle  a  gun  prop- 
erly, if  need  requires.  Shooting  game  fairly  is  a  manly 
art,  and  it  is  also  a  manly  art  to  know  when  and  what 
not  to  shoot." 

"  See  the  river,"  said  Dodo.  "  You  called  it  little, 
but  it  is  much  bigger  and  swifter  than  our  river.  Oh, 
what  a  queer  bridge,  and  all  the  evergreen  trees  are  on 
the  rocks  on  one  side,  and  great  tall  barky  trees  with 
no  leaves  on  the  other." 

"  This  is  the  beginning  of  the  hickory  wood,  where 
we  are  going.  It  looks  to  me  as  if  some  one  had  been 
making   improvement   here,   since   my  day,"  said   the 


52  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

Doctor.  "  Though  the  biggest  trees  are  gone,  the  dead 
ones  seem  to  have  been  taken  away  from  year  to  year, 
and  the  young  growth  encouraged." 

"  Stop  a  minute,  Olive  ;  your  father,  Nat,  and  I  will 
walk  this  last  mile  ;  the  road  is  too  steep  and  rough 
for  a  full  load." 

"Is.  the  far  west  country  wilder  than  this?"  asked 
Dodo,  who  of  course  wished  to  walk  with  the  others, 
holding  tight  to  her  uncle's  hand.  "  I  think  it's  lonely 
enough  for  Tigers  here,  if  it  was  only  warm  enough." 

"  Bless  my  heart,  this  is  not  wild  !  You  have  a  road 
to  walk  on  ;  you  know  where  you  came  from  and  where 
you  are  going.  To  call  a  country  really  wild  it  must 
have  no  roads,  but  only  gaps  or  trails  between  the  trees, 
and  often  not  even  these,  but  you  must  cut  a  path  for 
yourself.  You  will  more  frequently  know  where  you 
wish  to  go  than  where  you  are  going  ;  and  you  are 
never  sure  when,  if  ever,  you  will  get  back  to  the  place 
from  which  you  started." 

"  What  is  that  ahead  ?  Smoke  coming  from  the  hill- 
side. It  must  be  from  the  charcoal-burner's  hut  that 
Olaf  spoke  of  last  summer.  I  supposed  that  was  the 
other  side  of  the  mountain,  but  I  see  the  wood  here  is 
about  right  for  making  charcoal." 

The  Doctor  and  Dodo  had  fallen  behind  Mr.  Blake 
and  Nat.  When  they  overtook  them  they  found  that 
the  lane  ended  in  some  high  hickory  woods,  and  Mr. 
Blake  suggested  they  couldn't  find  a  better  place  to 
halt  and  make  their  play  camp. 

While  they  were  discussing  where  it  would  be  best 
to  tie  the  horses,  a  tall,  thin,  but  wiry  man,  came  noise- 
lessly from  among  the  trees  and  stood  looking  at  the 


AN  AUTUMN   If  OLID  AY  53 

party.  He  had  a  long,  straight  nose  like  a  Fox,  and 
deep-set  eyes  ;  his  face  was  as  brown  as  his  beard,  and 
his  clothes  were  very  much  like  some  of  those  worn  by 
the  scouts  in  the  Wild  West  Show,  his  shoes  being 
without  seams,  like  moccasins. 

In  spite  of  his  strange  face  and  dress  there  was  noth- 
ing forbidding  about  him,  and  he  had  a  pleasant  smile 
as  he  stepped  noiselessly  up. 

"A  woodsman,  I  know,"  said  Mr.  Blake  to  himself, 
scarcely  looking  at  the  man's  face,  but  judging  by  his 
soft  tread. 

The  man  stood  still  a  second,  looking  as  if  he  saw 
some  familiar  object,  but  from  a  great  distance,  and 
then  exclaimed,  "  I  want  to  know  !  " 

The  Doctor  and  Mr.  Blake  both  started  forward,  and 
the  strange  man  grasped  each  by  the  hand. 

"Nez  Long!  Is  it  possible?"  said  the  Doctor,  clap- 
ping him  on  the  back  with  his  free  hand,  while  the 
children  stood  looking  on  in  amazement.  Olive,  how- 
ever, knew  who  he  was  as  soon  as  she  heard  the  name, 
and  explained  to  the  others,  while  the  three  men  con- 
tinued to  talk  eagerly. 

Nez  was  a  man  from  northern  Maine  whom  her  father 
and  uncle  had  known  out  West.  He  had  been  a  trapper, 
hunter,  and  cowboy,  all  by  turns,  and  the  head  of  a  lum- 
ber camp  in  Canada.  The  French  Canadians  called 
him  Nez  Long,  which  means  "  long-nose  "  in  their  lan- 
guage. He  had  once  saved  Mr.  Blake's  life,  when  he 
was  almost  crushed  by  a  falling  tree  and  in  danger  of 
being  torn  by  a  bear,  but  how  he  came  in  the  hickory 
wood  she  of  course  did  not  know. 

"  Yes,  I'm  the  charcoal-burner,  I  reckon,  now,  and 


54  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

canoe-maker,  too,  and  do  a  bit  o'  huntin'  and  trappin' 
raound  about,  and  raise  some  truck  t'other  side  o'  the 
woods,  and  get  out  railroad  ties.  I've  a  camp  o'  my 
own  inside  the  first  belt,  and  a  wife,  and  she  isn't  a 
squaw  neither,  and  two  young  uns.  You  see  I've  got 
some  property  at  last,  Doc,  in  spite  of  being  a  sort  of 
wild  Injun  myself.  We  live  in  a  log  house,  though  ; 
we'd  choke  in  any  other  kind,  —  my  woman  an'  me's 
agreed  on  that.  She  was  'Toinette  Pardeau  —  old 
Dominique's  daughter.  You'll  remember  him  ;  he  was 
your  guide  the  day  you  got  that  thunderin'  big  Bear. 
All  these  your  young  uns,  Jake?" 

"  What  a  queer  man,"  said  Dodo.  "  And  not  very 
polite.  He  calls  Uncle  Roy,  Doc,  and  daddy,  Jake.  I 
don't  think  he  is  nice." 

"  You  must  remember,"  said  Olive,  "  that  he  has 
been  with  them  in  wild  places  and  they  have  shared 
danger,  and  worked  and  hunted  together  as  if  they 
were  brothers,  and  when  men  do  this,  the  Mister  drops 
away  from  their  names,  and  they  feel  to  each  other 
as  you  and  Nat  and  Rap  do." 

"  Of  course  they  must,"  said  Dodo,  repentantly,  "and 
he  picked  the  tree  off  daddy ;  "  so,  without  hesitating, 
she  walked  up  to  him,  holding  out  her  hand,  and  saying 
solemnly,  "  Good  morning,  Mr.  Long  Nose,  I'm  glad  to 
meet  you  and  thank  you  very  much  for  taking  the  tree 
off  daddy's  leg." 

"  I  want  to  know  !  "  stuttered  Nez,  more  surprised 
than  if  a  Grizzly  Bear  had  spoken  to  him. 

Every  one  laughed  then,  and  it  did  not  take  long  to 
explain  why  they  were  there,  and  how  they  were  going 
to  cook  dinner  camp-fashion  ;  and  Nat  feeling  the  sud- 


AN  AUTUMN  HOLIDAY  55 

den  confidence  in  Nez  that  young  people  and  dogs  have 
in  those  who  really  love  them,  said,  "  I'm  going  to 
learn  to  shoot  this  winter  and  hear  all  about  the  wild 
American  animals,  and  sometimes  you  will  let  us  come 
to  see  you,  won't  you,  and  you'll  tell  us  stories  ?  " 

"  Oh,  do,"  echoed  Dodo,  looking  up  at  him  with  a 
smile  that  generally  had  yes,  as  its  reward,  "  and  per- 
haps you'll  tell  us  just  one  story  for  dessert  to-day." 

"Sure  enough  I  will,"  he  answered;  "and  I'll  set 
you  a  camp  and  a  fire  all  slick  and  ready  while  you're 
a-gettin'  your  nuts.  Then  you  can  come  over  yonder," 
and  without  more  ado  he  disappeared  in  the  trees. 

"  Where  are  the  nuts  ?  "  asked  Dodo,  looking  up  to 
the  sky. 

"  On  the  ground  partly  and  in  the  trees  mostly," 
said  Olive.  "  If  these  trees  in  front  of  us  had  a  good 
shaking,  we  could  pick  up  enough  hickories  to  last  all 
winter." 

The  horses  were  unharnessed,  tethered  to  stumps 
and  blanketed ;  for  in  spite  of  the  bright  sun  the  air 
was  keen,  and  the  wind  had  suddenly  sprung  up,  scat- 
tering the  leaves  and  sending  down  quite  a  hailstorm 
of  nuts. 

When  Mr.  Blake  and  the  Doctor,  climbing  some  of 
the  smaller  trees,  aided  the  wind  in  its  work,  the  nuts 
gave  the  gatherers  such  a  pelting  that  they  had  to  stop 
until  the  squall  was  over. 

"  It's  almost  too  easy  to  be  fun,"  said  Nat,  as  they 
tied  up  the  mouth  of  Rap's  bag,  which  was  already 
filled.  "I  think  I'd  rather  hunt  for  things  a  little 
longer." 

"  Good  boy,"  said  his  father  ;  "  that  is  the  spirit  that 


56  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

makes  a  real  sportsman,  —  the  watching  and  waiting 
and  finding,  not  simply  the  greedy  getting  that  makes 
the  selfish  sort  of  man  I  call  a  Hunting  Wolf." 

"  You  had  better  make  the  most  of  this  easy  nutting, 
though,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  for  when  it  comes  to  pick- 
ing up  chestnuts,  you  will  have  to  look  and  poke  about 
between  the  leaves  and  stones,  I  can  tell  you." 

"  I  wonder  what  Mr.  Long  Nose  is  doing,  and  how 
he  is  going  to  fix  our  camp  for  us,"  said  Dodo,  empty- 
ing her  little  basket  into  the  big  one  for  the  third  time. 
"  I  think  we  have  enough  now." 

"  I  thought  there  was  some  other  reason  for  your 
hurry  beside  the  filling  of  the  bags.  I  never  knew 
before  that  children  could  have  too  many  nuts.  But 
don't  call  your  friend  Long  Nose,  Dodo ;  he  has  a  real 
name,  though  it  was  never  used  among  his  camp-mates." 

"  What  shall  I  call  him  then  —  Mr.  Long  ?  " 

"  No  ;  simply  Nez,  pronounced  as  it  is  spelled  ;  he 
will  understand  it  better,  for  if  you  called  him  Mister, 
he  would  be  put  out,  perhaps." 

"  Oh,  what  a  big  Squirrel !  "  called  Nat.  "  Twice  as 
large  as  those  about  the  farm,  and  all  one  color,  like  a 
Maltese  cat,  only  a  little  browner.  There  is  another, 
and  another  yet,  chasing  about  like  anything  !  See, 
Uncle  Roy  ;  up  there  !  " 

"  Gray  Squirrels,  and  fine  ones,  too.  These  are 
exactly  the  sort  of  woods  that  suit  them  ;  plenty  of 
hickories  and  beech  trees,  and  water  not  far  away." 

"  How  many  kinds  of  American  Squirrels  are  there?  " 
asked  Dodo,  "  and  is  the  lining  of  mother's  coat  made 
of  the  fur  of  this  gray  kind  ?  " 

"  There     are    sixty    or    seventy    kinds     in     North 


AN  AUTUMN  HOLIDAY  57 

America,  but  the  Red,  Gray,  the  big  Fox  Squirrel,  and 
the  little  Chipmunk,  or  Ground  Squirrel,  are  the  ones 
most  likely  to  interest  yon.  The  lining  of  your 
mother's  coat  is  probably  made  of  the  skins  of  a 
Russian  Squirrel.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  skins 
of  our  species  are  too  thin  and  tender  to  let  them  go 
in  the  list  of  valuable  fur-bearing  animals." 

"  I  suppose  they  are  like  the  Moleskin  that  Rod 
gave  me  to  make  a  muff  for  my  doll.  It  cracked  like 
a  piece  of  paper,  and  wouldn't  stay  sewed  well,  and 
it  had  a  very  queer  smell  that  took  a  day  to  wash  off 
my  hands.  Why  do  some  animals  have  such  strange 
smells,  Uncle  Roy  ?  " 

"  For  two  reasons.  There  are  protective  smells  and 
signal  smells.  The  Skunk's  odor  belongs  to  this  first 
sort,  and  he  uses  his  evil  odor  as  a  weapon  of  defence 
and  seems  to  thoroughly  understand  its  power,  for  very 
few  of  the  large  beasts  of  prey  ever  care  to  get  within 
range  of  it. 

"  The  signal  smells  are  as  important  to  the  Four- 
footed  People  as  speech  is  to  House  People.  In  fact, 
the  power  of  scent  largely  takes  the  place  of  speech 
with  them.  What  they  lack  in  tongue  is  made  up  by 
a  wonderful  keenness  of  ear  and  nose. 

"  A  Fox  goes  through  a  lane  and  can  tell  by  the 
smell  whether  it  is  a  dog  who  has  been  there  before 
him  or  a  brother  Fox.  The  dog  in  his  turn  who  fol- 
lows knows  by  the  scent  Avhere  the  Fox  has  gone  and 
can  find  him  unless  he  crosses  water." 

"  Why  can't  he  follow"  him  across  water  ?  Does  it 
wash  away  the  smell  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"Exactly,  but  —  " 


58  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  What  is  that  terrible  noise,"  cried  Olive,  starting, 
and  they  all  listened,  somewhat  startled,  while  Dodo 
crept  close  between  her  father  and  uncle,  saying",  "  It 
must  be  a  very  wild  sick  cow  that  is  hurt." 

"  If  we  were  in  a  swamp  a  couple  of  hundred  miles 
further  north,  instead  of  here  in  a  hickory  wood,  I 
should  say  it  was  either  a  cow  Moose  or  else  some  one 
imitating  one,"  said  Mr.  Blake. 

"  Why,  it's  Nez,  of  course,"  said  Dr.  Roy.  "  He  used 
to  be  one  of  the  best  Moose  callers  along  the  border. 
He  is  ready  for  us  to  come  up,  and  has  taken  that  way 
to  call  us,  though  we  are  not  Moose." 

"  Let's  go  quick  and  see,"  said  Dodo,  recovering  her 
courage,  and  hurrying  the  party  along.  "  What  are 
Moose,  and  what  do  people  call  them  for?" 

"  Moose  are  the  largest  of  our  Deer.  The  cry  we 
have  just  heard  is  the  cow  Moose's  call  to  her  mate. 
Men  who  hunt  the  Moose  imitate  this  call,  and  the 
bull  (which  is  the  name  given  male  Moose  and  Elk) 
comes  hurrying  up  to  meet,  not  his  mate,  but  a  bullet." 

"Do  you  call  that  fair  hunting,  daddy?"  asked 
Nat. 

"  No,  I  do  not  ;  unless  the  hunter  is  hungry  and  can- 
not get  food  in  any  other  way,  it  seems  to  me  little  bet- 
ter than  setting  a  trap.  A  sportsman  should  show  his 
skill  in  finding  the  Moose,  not  calling  him  by  a  trick." 

"  Yes,"  said  Nat,  "  I  understand  that.  It's  the  same 
as  if  when  we  play  hide-and-seek  I  wanted  Dodo,  and 
instead  of  hunting  for  her  I  cried  or  did  something  to 
make  her  come  out,  and  then  cried  '  I  spy.'" 

"  Look,  father  !  Look  there  !  "  said  Olive.  "  It's 
like  the  old  days  in  Canada." 


AN  AUTUMN  HOLIDAY  59 

As  they  left  the  narrow  footpath  where  they  had 
been  walking  in  Indian  iile  they  stepped  into  an  open 
space  from  which  all  the  trees  had  been  cut,  as  well  as 
the  underbrush.  At  the  further  side,  with  its  back 
against  the  hill  toward  the  north,  was  a  log-cabin  with 
small  windows  in  the  front  and  sides.  A  little  way  from 
it  was  a  sort  of  long  shed,  roofed  with  hemlock  boughs, 
under  which  was  a  grindstone,  some  tools,  etc.  In  the 
centre  of  the  open  square  the  earth  was  black,  and  there 
were  many  ashes,  as  if  a  fire  had  often  burned  there. 

At  one  side  Nez  himself  was  at  work,  axe  in  hand, 
before  a  sort  of  tent  made  of  two  upright  poles,  and 
a  crosspiece  against  which  he  Avas  laying  hemlock 
boughs.  Not  far  from  this  two  logs  about  live  feet 
long  were  placed  side  by  side  on  the  ground.  The 
upper  side  was  shaved  off ;  at  one  end  they  were  about 
four  inches  apart  and  at  the  other  eight.  Between  this 
was  a  line  of  glowing  charcoal,  kept  from  burning  the 
logs  by  the  earth  which  was  heaped  against  them.  At 
either  end  there  was  an  upright  stake,  and  a  bar  was 
laid  between  these  so  that  it  came  about  a  foot  and  a 
half  above  the  lire. 


VI 


OUT-DOOR   COOKERY 


'ETCH  yer  blankets.  Thar's 
yer  lean-to  and  thar's  yer 
stove,"  said  Nez,  pointing  to 
the  slanting  hemlock  roof 
and  the  line  of  glowing 
coals.  "  Now  git  out  yer 
kit  and  yer  grub,  and  let's 
see  what  sort  of  a  feed  we 
can  cook  up." 

"  The  woman  and  the 
young  uns  are  gone  over  the  mountain  to  Chestnut 
Ridge  tradin',  but  they'll  be  home  b'fore  night.  I'd  be 
pleased  to  have  yer  eat  in  the  cabin  b'yon'  there,  but 
yer  seemed  to  want  to  play  campin'." 

The  three  children  looked  on  in  open-eyed  wonder, 
but  Olive,  who  had  some  experience  in  woodcraft,  be- 
gan sorting  and  arranging  the  things  that  Mr.  Blake, 
the  Doctor,   and  Nez  brought  up  from  the  wagon. 

First  she  put  the  food  and  cooking  utensils  on 
planks  near  the  fire,  and  then  spread  the  wagon 
cushions  at  the  back  of  the  brush  lean-to,  and  laid 
some  extra  horse  blankets  upon  them. 

"  I  wonder  why  uncle  brought  six  blankets  when 
there  are  only  two  horses,"  said  Nat. 

60 


OUT- DOOR    COOKERY  61 

"  We'll  see  before  we  get  home,"  said  Dodo ;  "  we 
always  do." 

Next  Olive  filled  the  tea-kettle  from  a  pail  of  water 
Nez  brought  from  a  spring  on  the  hill  above  the  cabin, 
and  hung  it  on  the  crossbar  over  the  fire. 

"I  know  what  that  stick  is  for,  anyway,"  said  Nat. 

"  I've  fixed  sticks  like  that  to  hold  a  kettle,  and  I've 
roasted  chestnuts  and  potatoes  in  hot  ashes,"  said  Rap  ; 
"but  I  can't  think  what  those  two  logs  are  for,  and 
why  they  are  fixed  wider  apart  at  one  end  than  at 
the  other." 

"  That  is  easily  explained,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  begin- 
ning to  untie  his  packages  of  groceries.  "  You  see 
the  bottom  of  the  coffee-pot  is  smaller  than  the  tin 
kettle,  and  the  frying-pan  is  larger  than  either.  Now, 
if  we  set  the  coffee-pot  on  the  narrow  end,  it  fits  nicely, 
but  the  kettle  would  not  get  enough  heat,  so  that 
stands  where  the  logs  are  wider  apart,  and  the  frying- 
pan  further  along  ;  and  if  we  wanted  to  cook  some- 
thing in  a  wire  broiler,  it  could  go  at  the  very  end. 
Isn't  this  log  stove  a  great  invention  ?  " 

"  Y-e-s,"  said  the  children  ;  "  but  what  are  you  go- 
ing to  cook  ? " 

"  Roast  the  potatoes  in  the  ashes,  boil  the  coffee, 
fry  the  ham  and  eggs  in  this  pan,  tie  strings  to  the 
stems  of  these  apples  and  hang  them  on  the  rod  by 
the  tea-kettle. 

"  We  will  begin  with  the  potatoes  and  apples,"  said 
Mr.  Blake,  "for  they  take  the  longest  to  cook.  How 
is  it  for  game  about  here,  Nez  ?  I  brought  my  gun, 
thinking  I  might  get  a  few  Quail  ;  but  it's  taken  us 
so  long  to  come  up  that  there  is  not  time." 


62  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Quail  and  Grouse,  plenty,  and  some  Woodcock, 
if  you  know  where  to  go.  The  woman  is  takin'  a 
bunch  now  to  trade  over  the  mountain,  and  Stubble, 
my  dog,  has  gone  with  her,  or  I'd  send  him  out  with 
3'ou.  Here's  a  pair  o'  Grouse  that  have  hung  since 
day  before  yesterday  ;  they'll  roast  first-rate,  if  you'll 
have  'em." 

Nez  Avent  to  the  shed  and  brought  back  a  pair  of 
Partridges,  or  Ruffed  Grouse,  as  they  should  be  called, 
both  males,  with  ruffs  of  lustrous  green  feathers. 

"  How  pretty  !  "  said  Dodo,  stroking  them  ;  "  would 
it  be  any  harm  for  me  to  wear  those  wings  in  my  hat 
after  we  have  eaten  the  birds  ?  " 

"  It  is  no  harm  to  use  the  wings  of  food  birds  for 
ornament  ;  the  only  danger  is  that  people,  who  do 
not  care  or  know  the  difference,  or  understand  about 
Citizen  Bird,  may  wear  the  wings  of  Song  Birds  by 
mistake." 

"  How  can  we  roast  them  without  an  oven  ?  "  asked 
Rap,  as  they  watched  Nez  pulling  off  the  wing  and 
tail  feathers,  but  not  otherwise  plucking  the  Grouse. 
"  Hang  them  with  a  string  over  the  fire  ?  " 

"  In  the  ashes  along  o'  the  potatoes,"  replied  Nez, 
at  the  same  time  going  near  the  spring  and  bringing  a 
spadeful  of  pliable,  clayey  earth,  which,  by  wetting,  he 
kneaded  into  two  sheets  a  little  thicker  than  pie  crust. 

"  What  can  he  be  doing  ? "  whispered  Dodo  to 
Olive  ;   "  do  you  suppose  he  really  eats  mud  pies  ?  " 

"  No,  dear  ;  of  course  not.     Watch  !  " 

Nez  laid  a  bird  in  the  centre  of  each  sheet  of 
clay  dough,  after  wetting  its  feathers,  which  he 
wrapped  all   around    it    as   if    it  were    an    apple    in    a 


OUT-BOOR    COOKERY  63 

little  dumpling.  Then  lie  dug  out  a  small  oven- 
like hole  under  the  broadest  part  of  the  fire,  into 
which  he  put  the  Grouse,  covered  them  with  ashes, 
and  raked  the  live  coals  back  over  the  spot. 

"  Won't  they  be  all  burned  and  dirty  ?  "  whispered 
Dodo  to  Olive. 

"  Wait  and  see,"  was  her  answer. 

While  the  dinner  was  cooking,  Nez  led  the  party, 
all  except  the  cook,  about  his  clearing,  as  he  called  it. 

At  first  the  cabin  seemed  very  dark,  but  they  soon 
saw  that  it  had  two  rooms  separated  by  a  great  chim- 
ney piled  up  of  broad  rough  stones.  One  room  was 
the  kitchen  and  living  room,  and  the  other  the  bed- 
room. This  had  berths  nailed  to  the  wall,  not  unlike 
those  in  a  ship  or  sleeping  car.  The  bedding  con- 
sisted of  coarse  gray  blankets,  spread  over  fresh  hem- 
lock boughs  and  straw. 

The  fireplace  was  open  and  wide,  and  on  the  living- 
room  side  some  long  logs  were  piled  one  on  top  of  the 
other,  with  smaller  sticks  and  kindlings  in  front. 

"  We  keep  er  sort  uv  campfire  in  here  cold  nights, 
yer  see,  Doctor.  When  once  you've  been  uster  sleepin' 
by  a  fire,  you  miss  it  dredful.  I've  got  a  stove  in 
here,"  he  said,  pointing  to  the  kitchen ;  "  but  in  warm 
weather  we  cook  outside  on  the  logs.  When  you've 
spent  twenty  or  thirty  years  sleepin'  mostly  under 
the  sky,  any  kind  uv  a  roof  seems  crampy,  so  in  sum- 
mer season  I  lie  out  yet." 

"  Did  you  ever  sleep  all  night  outdoors,  like  daddy 
and  uncle,  with  no  tent  or  anything  ? "  asked  Dodo, 
in  an  awe-struck  tone,  leaving  the  boys,  who  were  look- 
ing at  the  strange  assortment  of  things  that  hung  from 


64  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

the  rafters  of  the  cabin,  stood  in  corners,  or  were  stuck 
in  the  little  cracks  between  the  logs.  —  Fishing-poles, 
a  Winchester  rifle,  a  double-barrel  shot-gun,  bunches 
of  herbs,  the  furry  skins  of  several  kinds  of  small 
beasts,  a  Fox  tail  fastened  to  a  stick  for  a  duster,  and 
many  other  fascinating  objects. 

"  Sleep  out  all  night,  missy  ?  "  said  Nez  in  astonish- 
ment ;  "  why,  o'  course,  that  wuz  always  the  kind  of 
campin'  I  did  when  I  wuz  trappin'." 

"  Why  didn't  wild  beasts  eat  you,  and  why  didn't 
you  get  all  damp  and  mouldy  ?  "  persisted  Dodo. 

"  Mostly  on  account  of  the  dry  air  in  those  places, 
and  campfires,  I  reckon,  and  sleepin'  with  one  eye 
open,"  said  Nez,  laughing.  "  Here  comes  Renny,  he 
wants  his  supper,  I  guess." 

"Why,  it's  a  Fox!  Won't  he  bite?  I  thought 
Foxes  were  wild  beasts,"  said  Nat,  as  a  young  Fox, 
looking  something  like  a  small  collie  dog,  trotted  up 
to  the  cabin,  sniffing  about  and  eyeing  the  strangers 
suspiciously. 

"  That  Fox  won't  bite,  he's  a  pet  of  the  young  uns. 
His  mother  was  killed  for  chicken  stealin',  I  reckon, 
along  in  May ;  and  Stubble  nosed  out  the  hole  on  the 
other  side  of  the  mountain,  and  I  found  two  pups  in 
it.  One  died,  and  we  raised  this.  We've  got  a 
young  Coon,  too,  somewhere  about." 

"  He  is  just  as  pretty  as  a  dog.  Will  he  never  run 
away  and  try  to  find  his  mother?"  asked  Rap.  "I 
had  a  tame  Coon  once,  and  it  stayed  round  all  right, 
but  along  in  the  second  spring  it  ran  away." 

"  I  reckon  the  Fox  Avill  too,  when  he  gits  old  enough 
to  take  a  mate  and  set  up  house  for  himself.     They  all 


OUT-BOOB   COOKERY  65 

do,  — birds  and  beasts  and  folks  too,  —  everybody  likes, 
to  have  a  place  of  his  own.  Don't  he,  Doctor?  Here 
I  was  a-roamin'  all  over  creation,  no  idea  uv  stayin' 
put  anywhere,  and  here  I  am  settled  down  and  what 
they  call  civilized." 

The  Doctor  laughed  and  walked  off  with  Nez  to  see 
his  charcoal  pit  and  bit  of  cleared  land,  where  he 
raised  potatoes  and  beans,  while  the  children  still 
looked  wonderingly  about  the  cabin. 

"  I  wonder  why  the  leaves  are  swept  away  so  clean 
all  about  here?"  said  Dodo.  "It  looks  so  much  pret- 
tier to  have  leaves  and  pine  needles  on  the  ground." 

"  On  account  of  fire,"  said  Olive.  "  When  you 
camp  out,  you  have  to  be  very  careful  about  fire,  espe- 
cially in  places  where  there  are  many  evergreen  trees. 
Nez  cooks  out  of  doors  and  works  often  under  that 
shed,  and  has  a  log  fire  to  warm  him ;  and  if  the 
ground  were  covered  with  dry  leaves,  the  fire  might 
spread  all  through  the  woods." 

"  I'm  so  very  hungry,"  said  Dodo,  presently;  "  suppose 
we  go  over  and  see  how  daddy  is  getting  along  with 
his  cooking." 

"  There  must  be  Coons  living  around  here,"  said  Rap, 
looking  eagerly  into  some  old  trees.  "I  see  lots  of 
likely  holes,  and  there's  a  splendid  lot  of  brush  down 
hill  there  for  Rabbits.  Say,  Nat,  I  wonder  when  we 
learn  to  shoot  if  Nez  wouldn't  let  us  come  here  and  get 
something  to  eat  and  then  cook  it  ?  It  would  be  great 
sport !  " 

"  We  can  ask  him,  anyhow.  There,  daddy  is  beckon- 
ing to  us,  and  I  smell  ham.  C-o-m-i-n-g,  c-o-m-i-n-g," 
Nat  shouted. 


66  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  It's  all  ready,"  said  Dodo,  who  had  gone  ahead, 
"  only  Uncle  Roy  and  Nez  have  wandered  away,  and 
daddy  says  we  must  not  dig  out  the  roast  birds  until 
they  come  back.  Can't  you  moo-oo  to  call  them, 
daddy,  the  same  way  that  Nez  did  ?  " 

"I  can  try,  girlie.  Nat,  go  over  to  the  cabin  and 
see  if  you  can  find  a  great  cone-shaped  thing  made  of 
bark." 

Nat  soon  returned  breathless,  but  with  the  desired 
article.  "  It  was  hanging  by  the  chimney  on  an  old 
pair  of  some  kind  of  queer  flat  spiked  Deer  horns." 

"Antlers,  Nat ;  Ave  don't  call  those  things  horns  when 
they  belong  to  Deer.  They  must  be  the  antlers  of  Nez' 
famous  Moose.  You  must  ask  him  to  tell  you  about  it 
some  day.     Let  me  have  the  horn." 

"  It's  like  a  little  megaphone,  you  know,"  said  Nat ; 
"  the  thing  they  called  out  the  programme  with  at  the 
circus,  only  that  was  tin  and  this  is  old  dry  bark." 

"  So  it  is,  and  that,  like  many  other  things,  had  its 
beginning  in  some  simple  invention  of  a  woodsman. 
Let  me  have  it  —  Moo-oo-oo-o  !    Wher  !    Moo-oo-oo-o  !  " 

"  Oh,  what  a  queer  foggy  noise  !  "  cried  Dodo,  stop- 
ping up  her  ears. 

"  I'm  afraid,  Uncle  Jack,"  said  Olive,  "  if  I  were  a 
Moose  I  should  run  away  from  a  mate  with  such  a 
voice." 

"May  I  try?"  said  Rap. 

"  Certainly.  I  never  was  a  good  Moose  caller,  it 
always  gave  me  a  sore  throat." 

Rap  took  the  cone  and  called  gently  at  first,  raising 
the  horn  and  then  lowering  it  to  the  ground,  making  a 
very  good  imitation  of  Nez'  call. 


OUT- DOOR   COOKERY  67 

"  Bravo  !  "  cried  Mr.  Blake ;  "  some  one  must  have 
taught  you  that,  my  boy." 

"  I've  seen  the  lumbermen  do  it  over  at  the  far 
mountain." 

"  Are  there  Moose  anywhere  near  here  ?  "  asked  Olive. 

"  Oh,  no ;  but  the  men  had  worked  in  North  Maine 
and  Canada,  and  they  used  to  sit  round  the  fire  and  tell 
boast  stories  of  what  they  had  done,  and  showed  how 
they  called  Moose." 

"  Boast  stories,  what  are  those  ?  "  asked  Olive. 

"  Stories  about  animals  they  had  hunted  so  long  ago 
that  every  time  they  told  about  the  beast  it  got  bigger 
and  bigger,  until  it  wouldn't  have  known  itself." 

Mr.  Blake  laughed  heartily  at  Rap's  description,  as  if 
he  thoroughly  appreciated  his  meaning. 

"  When  we  sit  by  the  campfire  thinking  of  past  days 
that  have  pleased  us,  we  often  see  them  through  the 
firelight  as  we  do  things  in  dreams,  which  are  part 
imagination  and  part  memory.  Always  remember,  boys, 
that  the  adventures  we  have  under  the  open  sky  and 
the  friends  we  make  around  the  campfires  and  in  the 
silence  of  strange  places  —  open  prairie  or  trackless 
wood  —  are  different  from  the  doings  and  acquaintances 
of  every  day,  and  the  account  of  them  must  always  seem 
unreal  to  those  who  have  not  been  there." 

"  You  called  fust  rate  the  second  time,"  said  Nez  to 
Mr.  Blake,  returning  from  showing  his  farm,  as  he 
called  it.     "  It  was  a  little  onsertin  at  fust  —  " 

"  Praise  Rap  ;  the  call  I  gave  was  called  a  '  foggy 
noise '  by  Dodo." 

"  Was  that  you,  little  chap  ?  Want  to  know  !  Was 
you  raised  in  the  North  Woods  ?  " 


68  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"No,  but  I've  always  wanted  to  live  in  the  woods 
the  way  you  do ;  but  you  see  woods  are  too  far  away 
from  people  for  mother  to  get  any  washing  to  do." 

"  Never  you  mind,"  said  Nez,  "  after  the  first  snow 
you  come  up  and  stop  with  me  a  spell,  and  I'll  show  you 
how  to  git  some  Rabbits  and  a  Grouse  or  two  for  your 
mammy,  when  I've  got  my  Muskrat  and  Mink  traps 
set.  There's  no  big  game  hereabouts,  at  least  none 
bigger  than  a  Fox  or  a  Porkipiue,  a  Coon  or  maybe  a 
couple  o'  Wild  Cats  strayin'  about.  But  you  can  see 
how  the  night  comes  in  the  woods,  and  I'd  learn  you 
the  tracks  of  some  o'  the  fur  beasts.  If  we  get  good 
deep  snow  down  along  the  river  medders,  I'll  show  you 
how  to  walk  on  snow-shoes,  too ;  maybe  it'll  come  in 
handy  some  day." 

"  I  couldn't  learn  that  on  account  of  my  leg,  but  Nat 
could,  and  he'd  love  it,"  said  Rap,  cheerfully. 

"  Dinner,  dinner,"  called  the  Doctor,  "  and  stories 
afterward.  Dodo  is  very  anxious  to  see  you  open  the 
mud  pies,  Nez." 

"  Come  and  sit  on  the  cushions  under  this  nice  wind 
break,"  said  Olive,  going  to  the  lean-to  that  Nez  had 
made  of  the  hemlock  boughs.  "  Here  are  your  plates 
and  cups,  —  you  be  waiter,  Nat,  and  take  them  to  Uncle 
Jack." 

"  What  do  you  call  your  camp,  Nez  ?  "  asked  Mr. 
Blake. 

"  Settledown,"  said  Nez,  laughing,  "'cause  we've  set- 
tled here  nigh  two  years." 

"  Bill  of  Fare  for  Dinner  at  Camp  Settledown,  served 
by  Chef  Jacque,"  called  Mr.  Blake.  "  Ham  and  eggs, 
potatoes  in  jackets,  frying-pan  bread,  roast  Grouse  with 


OUT-DOOR    COOKERY  69 

clay  pastry.  Dessert  —  roast  apples  on  strings,  ginger 
cookies,  and  "  —  as  Nez  came  from  the  cabin  with  a  jar 
—  "  wild  plum  jam,  and  coffee  with  condensed  cream!  " 

The  first  course  was  eaten  with  much  relish,  and  then 
they  gathered  around  the  fire  to  see  Nez  uncover  his 
famous  pies.  The  first  one  being  opened  disclosed  a 
mass  of  blackened  feathers. 

"  I  knew  it  wouldn't  be  any  good,"  whispered  Dodo 
to  Nat. 

"You  know  too  soon  then,"  he  replied,  as  Nez  with 
a  skilful  pull  took  feathers,  skin,  and  all  from  the  bird, 
showing  its  smoking,  nicely  cooked  body  all  ready  to 
be  eaten. 

"  Oh  !  "  said  the  children,  as  they  cut  it,  or,  I  should 
say  more  truthfully,  pulled  it  apart. 

"  It's  terribly  good  with  a  little  salt  on  it,"  said 
Dodo ;  "  here's  a  dear  little  wish-bone  for  you,  Olive, 
and  both  top  legs."  And  for  the  next  half  hour  the 
conversation  was  nearly  extinguished  by  the  food. 

"Please,  are  you  going  to  tell  us  a  story  now?" 
asked  Dodo  of  Nez,  as  he  began  collecting  the  tin 
plates,  cups,  pots,  and  pans. 

"  Wash  up  yer  kit  first,  then  campfire  and  talking. 
You  see,  missy,  in  the  woods  it  don't  do  to  let  yer 
vittles  cool  on  the  dishes ;  it's  too  hard  to  clean  'em. 
Got  a  kittle?  Yes  ?  "  and  he  filled  the  largest  tin  with 
water,  which  he  set  on  the  fire  to  heat  for  dish-washing. 

"Any  dish-rag?"  and  Nez  carefully  put  the  good 
scraps  in  a  pail  to  feed  to  Stubble  when  he  should 
return,  wiped  each  article  out  with  a  handful  of  leaves 
which  he  carefully  burned  as  soon  as  soiled, —  then  the 
dish-washing  was  an  easy  matter. 


70  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

'"  You  see,"  he  explained,  "  if  you  are  camping  in  any 
one  place  for  a  spell,  it  gets  dreadful  mussy  if  you  don't 
keep  cleaned  up,  and  then  you  may  want  yer  duds  in 
a  hurry.  Always  keep  yer  kit  ready,  whether  it's  guns, 
or  harness,  or  kittles  ;  that's  camp  law." 

So  the  children  strayed  about  for  an  hour  or  so  until 
Nez  and  their  father  had  finished  their  work  and  smoked 
their  after-dinner  pipes. 

"  Now  we'll  have  a  campfire,  though  it's  the  wrong 
time  o'  day,"  continued  Nez,  piling  some  logs  from  his 
shed  against  a  couple  of  charred  tree  trunks  that  stood 
side  by  side  about  four  feet  apart  ;  he  put  sticks  and 
kindling  in  front  of  the  logs,  arranging  the  heap  so  that 
the  wind  blew  from  the  front  to  the  back. 

"  Why  don't  you  put  the  sticks  in  a  stack,  like  corn 
stalks?"  asked  Nat.  "That  is  the  way  we  do  when 
Uncle  Roy  lets  us  make  bonfires  in  the  gravel-bank  lot ; 
it  burns  up  as  quick  as  a  flash,  only  it  eats  a  great  lot 
of  wood." 

"  That's  the  reason  we  don't  do  it,"  said  Nez,  "  just 
'cause  it  does  burn  up  quick  and  eat  the  wood  so  fast 
and  then  slumps  out.  This  isn't  the  real  time  o'  day 
that  in  natur'  a  woodsman  or  a  plainsman  would  stop 
to  build  a  campfire,  but  it'll  do  to  show  }rou  by." 

"  When  do  people  generally  build  them  ? "  asked 
Rap. 

"Along  about  dark,"  said  Nez,  "after  supper,  when 
the  day's  work  is  done,  if  it's  a  cattle  round-up,  or  a 
huntin'  or  a  lumber  camp.  In  the  north  and  northwest 
country  the  air  is  dry  and  fine  enough  in  the  daytime, 
but  as  soon  as  the  sun  goes  down  —  down  goes  the 
weather,  too.     If  you  go  to  sleep  with  no  fire,  or  let 


OUT-DOOR   COOKERY  71 

your  fire  go  out,  you'll  get  up  with  stumbliu'  feet  and 
hands  all  thumbs  in  the  morning.  That's  why  we  pile 
the  logs  this  way,  so  that  the  fire  gets  a  good  hold  and 
creeps  up  slowly,  and  lasts  long. 

"  Then  you'll  lie  under  yer  bush  shanty,  or  lean-to,  or 
canvas,  or  whatever  kind  of  a  shelter  you  have,  or  stretch 
out  on  the  ground  in  yer  blanket,  and  yer  so  glad  of  rest 
that  yer  wouldn't  change  with  any  one  in  a  castle. 
Some  one  throws  on  the  logs,  and  the  camp  settles  down 
for  the  night  to  smoke  and  talk  and  then  sleep.  Wolves 
may  bark  in  the  distance,  and  Wildcats  yowl  and 
sneeze  ;  as  long  as  the  fire  blazes  they'll  keep  away." 

"  Please  tell  us  about  all  the  sorts  of  tents  you've 
slept  in,"  said  Olive. 

"  And  about  the  wild  beasts  that  sneezed  at  you," 
added  Nat,  as  they  all  watched  the  fire  dreamily  in  the 
comfortable  silence  brought  by  a  day  in  the  open  air 
and  a  good  meal. 

"  My  furst  reglar  campin'  was  in  a  lumber  camp  in 
Canada,  the  Saskatchewan  country  they  call  it.  All 
day  long  we  were  out  in  the  woods  cutting  trees,  trim- 
ming them  down  and  branding  the  logs  to  be  hauled 
over  the  snow  in  the  winter  to  the  river,  so  that  the 
spring  freshets  would  wash  them  down.  I  don't  think 
I  ever  struck  a  camp  that  had  more  game,  big  and  little, 
come  about  it.  Majrbe  it  was  'cause  I  was  young  then, 
and  everything  seemed  wonderful. 

"  The  camp  was  clear  out  in  the  wilderness,  in  a  sort 
of  holler  between  a  marshy  place  all  brushed  over  and 
a  woody  hill  ;  it  was  just  half  dugout,  half  log-cabin, 
like  my  own  yonder.  In  fact,  I  made  this  as  like  as  I 
could  to  the  remembrance  of  that  one.     Only,  like  most 


72  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

camps  thereabouts,  it  had  a  pair  uv  Moose  horns  over 
the  door  to  bring  good  huntin". 

"  It  was  the  furst  winter  that  I  was  there  I  learned 
from  the  Indians  and  half-breeds  how  to  read  signs;  to 
know  by  the  footprints  jest  what  animal  had  been  that 
way,  and  by  the  way  young  twigs  were  nibbled  and 
torn  whether  it  was  a  Moose, — if  it  was  a  bull  with 
antlers  or  the  smaller  cow  without  them.  Then  I 
learnt  the  footmarks  of  all  the  fur  beasts,  and  their 
toothmarks  on  the  bark,  and  when  there  were  scratches 
on  the  trees  I  knew  how  big  a  B'ar  had  sharpened  his 
claws  there,  and  how  tall  he  was." 

"  Oh,  uncle,  don't  you  remember  how  you  said  the 
Wise  Men  made  animals  into  classes  by  looking  at  their 
feet  and  teeth,  but  I  didn't  know  people  could  tell  them 
only  by  their  footprints. 

"  Please,  Nez,  can  you  tell  by  smell  where  all  the  dif- 
ferent animals  are,  as  uncle  says  they  can  tell  about 
each  other  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  Not  quite,"  said  Nez,  laughing,  "  though  there  are 
a  few  I  can  nose  out  besides  Skunks.  I  did  some  tall 
huntin'  and  trappin'  then  for  a  season  or  two,  before 
the  game  got  too  skary,  and  folks  came  that  killed 
just  for  getting  the  antlers  of  the  bulls  and  leavin'  the 
meat  to  rot,  —  folks  that  took  a  fawn  or  doe  just  the 
same  as  a  buck.  Hunting  Wolves,  I  call  them,  for 
a  Wolf  is  a  wasteful  beast  in  his  killin'." 

"  That's  what  daddy  calls  such  people,  too.  Tell  us 
the  names  of  some  of  the  beasts  you  saw,"  coaxed  Nat. 

"  It  would  be  easier  to  name  those  I  didn't,"  said  Nez, 
hesitating  ;  "  but  of  a  moonlight  night  after  an  early 
snow,  when  all  of  the  outfit  but  me  was   away,  I've 


/  \Aim  M«»i  w?t  „ 


The  Lumber  Camp. 
Wolf.  Skunks.  Canada  Lynx. 


Moose. 


OUT-DOOR    COOKERY  73 

seen  a  Moose  come  from  the  windward  side  of  the 
cabin,  while  a  Fox  sulked  in  the  shade  of  some  firs 
watching  the  Skunks  fighting  over  the  scrap-pail,  and 
a  Lynx  crouched,  grinning,  on  a  log,  taking  it  all  in. 
Meanwhile  white  northern  Hares  and  Ermines  nosed 
about  dreadful  careless,  not  knowing  when  they  might 
make  food  for  Owls,  and  Meadow  Mice  squealed  among 
the  logs  and  left  their  little  tracks  like  birds'  claws  in 
the  snow.  When  they  think  there's  nobody  round, 
beasts  have  their  playtime,  just  like  folks." 

"  Oh  !  "  sighed  Rap  and  Nat  in  chorus,  "  all  those 
beasts  you  saw  are  four-footed  Americans  ;  if  we  could 
only  live  in  a  camp  and  see  them." 

"  It  was  a  nice  place  to  see  the  animals,  but  pshaw, 
some  folks  would  find  the  camp  smoky  in  winter  and 
full  o'  black  flies  in  summer.  Don't  I  remember  the 
time  I  shot  my  big  Moose  ?  I'll  tell  you  that  story 
some  day,  and  about  another  time  out  in  Montana  how 
your  dad  was  huntin'  for  Sheep  and  met  a  Grizzly  B'ar. 
That  is,  if  he  don't." 

"  And  did  you  ever  see  a  great  white  Polar  Bear, 
or  find  Seals  swimming  on  the  ice  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"No,  I  never  was  so  far  north.  There  is  a  friend  of 
mine,  a  Finlander,  who  folloAvs  the  sea,  who  has  been  as 
fur  north  as  most  men  go  and  get  back  again,  and  he 
knows  those  beasts  and  their  ways.  He's  comin'  to 
stop  with  me  a  spell  this  snowfall,  and  he's  been  fishin' 
and  keepin'  a  light  down  on  the  shore  two  summers. 
I  thought  maybe  you'd  met  him,  his  name  is  —  " 

"  Olaf  !  "  cried  the  children  and  Olive  in  chorus. 

"  Want  to  know  !  "  said  Nez,  looking  pleased,  and 
puffing  vigorously  at  his  pipe. 


74  FOUR  FOOTED   AMERICANS 

,  "  Oh,  uncle  !  Oh,  daddy  !  "  cried  Nat  and  Dodo, 
rolling-  off  the  blankets  in  their  excitement.  "  Nez 
knows  Olaf  and  he's  coming  here  !  Don't  you  see  how 
much  we  could  learn  about  the  fourfoots  if  we  could 
only  live  up  here  in  a  log  house  ?  " 

"  Doubtless  you  could,  and  you  would  perhaps  enjoy 
it  vastly  for  a  while,  but  how  about  school  ?  You  must 
begin  by  being  fitted  for  your  lives  as  House  People  ; 
few  of  us  can  live  the  wild  life,  except  now  and  then 
for  pleasure  and  as  a  rest  from  too  much  tameness. 
Don't  look  so  blue,  Nat.  Dodo,  cheer  up,  even  if  you 
may  not  live  in  a  log  house  you  are  not  going  to  be 
shut  up  in  a  prison  this  winter.  Listen,  and  I  will 
tell  you  the  whole  of  the  surprise  that  you  partly 
learned  yesterday." 

Four  heads  crowded  together,  and  eight  wide-open 
eyes  gazed  at  Dr.  Roy,  for  Olive  was  as  much  in  the 
dark  as  the  others. 

"  Must  we  guess  ?  "  asked  Dodo,  clapping  her  hands. 

"  You  may  all  try,  if  you  like,  but  I  do  not  think  you 
can  possibly  guess  the  whole  of  the  secret." 

"We  are  coming  up  here  on  Saturdays  to  learn  to 
shoot  and  hear  Nez  tell  stories,"  ventured  Nat. 

"No,"  said  Olive,  "it  can't  be  that,  because  it  would 
be  too  far  and  too  cold  in  winter.  Perhaps  you  will 
ask  Nez  to  come  down  some  time  and  tell  us  stories," 
said  Olive. 

"  It  takes  too  long  to  guess,"  cried  Dodo,  wriggling 
about  in  her  impatience,  "  please  tell  us  now  !  " 

"  Very  well  ;  the  surprise  has  three  parts  to  it.  Sit 
still,  Dodo,  and  remember  that  you  are  not  to  jump  up 
and  down  or  hug  me  until  I  have  quite  finished. 


OUT-BOOR    COOKERY  75 

"  You  all  remember  the  old  summer  kitchen  at  the 
farm  that  is  filled  with  boxes,  tools,  and  rubbish, — ■ 
the  long-,  low  room  back  of  the  dairy,  with  the  brick 
floor  and  wide  fireplace  ?  " 

"  Oh,  }Tes,"  said  Nat,  "  I've  looked  in  there  trying  to 
find  Bats  that  I've  seen  go  through  a  place  where  the 
glass  was  broken,  but  it  was  stuffed  so  full  of  every- 
thing that  I  couldn't  get  in  at  the  door." 

"  Now,"  continued  the  Doctor,  "  this  very  day  Rod 
is  clearing  out  all  the  rubbish,  and  I  am  going  to  let 
you  fit  up  that  old  room  like  a  log-cabin  camp.  The 
fireplace  is  large  enough  to  hold  a  fine  campfire.  This 
is  part  first. 

"Part  second. — Every  Saturday  afternoon  that  it 
is  pleasant  your  father  or  I  will  teach  you  to  shoot  at 
a  target. 

"Part  third. — -When  it  is  dark  you  shall  go  into 
'  camp '  and  cook  your  own  supper,  after  the  same  fash- 
ion as  you  have  seen  the  dinner  cooked  to-day,  then 
after  supper  we  will  have  stories  about  the  four-footed 
Americans.  Nez  has  promised  to  tell  some  of  them, 
and  Olaf  others.  Rap  can  tell  what  he  knows  of  the 
nearby  beasts,  while  your  father  and  I  will  fill  in  the 
chinks." 

"  How  did  you  ever  think  of  anything  so  lovely  ?  " 
exclaimed  Olive. 

"  I  can  hug  you  now,"  said  Dodo,  immediately  doing 
it  vigorously. 

"  Hurrah  !  Moo-oo-o  !  "  was  Nat's  response,  trying 
to  blow  a  joyful  blast  on  the  Moose  horn,  and  failing 
utterly,  while  Rap  sat  in  silence,  but  with  a  beaming 
face. 


76  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

.,  "  Let's  go  home  and  begin  right  away,"  said  Dodo. 

"  It  is  high  time  to  go  home,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  jump- 
ing up.  "  Who  would  think  it  was  nearly  five  o'clock  ? 
The  sun  sets  in  a  hurry  these  days,  and  we  shall  have 
to  ask  the  moon  to  escort  us,  I  think.  Cold  ham  and 
cookies  must  do  for  supper." 

"  Somebody  is  coming,"  said  Eap,  pointing  to  the 
path  that  wound  around  the  steep,  wooded  crest,  where 
his  quick  ears  detected  a  rustling  in  the  dead  leaves. 
At  the  same  time  a  ginger-colored  setter  dog  came  in 
sight,  followed  by  two  sturdy  little  boys,  who,  on  see- 
ing strangers,  dodged  into  the  cabin  like  frightened 
Rabbits. 

"  That's  Toinette  and  the  young  uns,"  said  Nez. 
Then  added  by  way  of  apology,  "  The  young  uns  don't 
see  many  folk  and  they  are  skary.  Here,  Toinette," 
speaking  to  a  rather  pretty,  dark-haired,  black-ej^ed 
young  woman,  who  came  up  carrying  a  basket  on  her 
head,  "  make  you  acquainted  with  some  old  tent  mates 
o'  mine." 

The  woman  gravely  held  out  her  hand  to  each  with 
a  pretty  gesture  of  welcome  that  said  more  than  words. 

"  She's  half  French,  you  see,"  explained  Nez,  "  and 
she  isn't  much  on  talkin'  American." 

But  the  moment  Mr.  Blake  spoke  to  her  in  the  soft 
slurring  French  of  the  Canadian  woods,  she  answered 
readily,  and  her  face  was  wreathed  with  smiles. 

"You  must  bring  your  wife  and  children  down  to 
visit  us,  Nez,"  said  the  Doctor  ;  "  it  will  do  them  good 
to  see  other  young  folks." 

"I  reckon  it  would.  The  boys  go  to  school  now, 
over  the  mountain ;  book  learnin'  is  some  good  even  to 


out- noon  cookery  77 

woodsmen,  I  say,  and  by  the  time  they've  grown  up 
there  won't  be  much  of  a  livin'  left  in  the  woods, 
anyhow." 

"  But  it's  more  than  five  miles  over  to  the  Ridge 
school  by  the  road." 

"  Yes,  but  that's  nothin'  fine  days,  and  when  snow 
comes  I  calkerlate  ter  put  on  snow-shoes  and  ride  'em, 
one  on  each  shoulder,  across  country  ;  they  don't  weigh 
much  compared  to  camp  kits  and  Deer  I've  carried." 

"  Dodo,  how  would  you  like  to  go  ten  miles  a  day 
through  the  woods  to  school  ? "  asked  her  father,  for 
Dodo  sometimes  grumbled  at  walking  the  smooth  mile 
that  lay  between  the  farm  and  schoolhouse. 

"At  first,  for  about  a  week,  it  would  be  fun,  and 
then  perfectly  dreadful,"  she  answered  promptly. 

They  left  Nez'  camp  reluctantly,  and  returned  to 
where  they  had  left  the  wagon  and  horses,  who  greeted 
them  with  neighs  of  pleasure.  Tom  had  walked  so 
many  times  around  the  tree  to  which  he  was  tethered 
that  he  was  wound  up  tight  to  the  trunk,  while  Jerry 
had  nibbled  his  rope  loose  and  was  having  a  fine  time 
rolling  on  the  ground,  though  his  thick  coat,  long  mane, 
and  tail  were  knotted  with  burrs  which  would  give  Rod 
a  good  hour's  work  to  comb  out. 

"Never  mind,"  he  neighed,  as  the  Doctor  said  "Look 
at  what  a  pickle  Jerry  is  in,"  — "I've  had  my  fun  to-day 
as  well  as  you." 

The  sun  disappeared  exactly  at  the  moment  that  the 
wagon  turned  into  the  lane  again,  and  every  one  waved 
good-by  to  Nez,  who  watched  them  out  of  sight. 

"  I  know  what  all  the  extra  blankets  and  things  were 
put  in  for,"  said  Dodo,  as  her  father  made  her  sit  on  a 


78  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

blanket  which  he  folded  over  her  knees  and  drew  about 
her  shoulders  like  a  shawl,  so  that  only  her  head  peeped 
out,  while  the  others  arranged  theirs  to  match.  "  It's 
like  being  in  a  bag.  How  nice  and  warm  it  feels,"  she 
said,  nestling  down.  "I  didn't  know  just  one  blanket 
could  be  so  comfortable." 

"  Just  one  skin  robe  or  wool  blanket  is  all  that  the 
Indian  hunter,  or  plainsman,  has  to  stand  between  him 
and  the  bitter  cold  night,"  said  the  Doctor  ;  "  so  that 
many  people  who  are  living  the  out-door  life  continu- 
ally, have  their  blankets  sewed  into  this  shape  and 
lined  with  fur,  and  they  are  called  sleeping  bags." 

"That  is  what  Dodo's  blanket  will  be  long  before  we 
get  home,"  said  Olive,  as  Dodo  nodded  and  swayed  on 
the  seat. 

"  No,  I'm  going  to  stay  awake  so  as  to  see  every- 
thing," said  she,  suddenly  stiffening  up  and  opening 
her  eyes  very  wide. 

"  Look  at  the  mist  coming  up  out  of  the  river  and 
lowlands,"  said  Rap  ;  "  it's  just  as  if  they  had  gone  to 
sleep  and  it  was  their  breath." 

"  We  shall  save  three  miles  by  following  the  river 
lane,"  said  the  Doctor  to  Mr.  Blake,  who  was  driving. 

By  this  time  the  light  that  guided  them  came  from 
the  great  full  hunter's  moon,  and  all  that  was  left  of 
daylight  was  a  few  dull  red  shadows  in  the  west. 

"  There  are  lots  of  little  beasts  out  to-night,"  said 
Rap,  his  eyes  being  almost  as  keen  in  the  darkness  as  a 
cat's.  "  Oh,  Doctor,  do  you  hear  that  barking  down 
the  river  bank  ?  I'm  as  sure  as  anything  that  it's  a 
dog  that  has  treed  a  Coon,  for  the  noise  keeps  coming 
from  the  same  place.     Can't  we  stop  and  see  ?  " 


OUT-DOOR   COOKERY  7(J 

Mr.  Blake  drew  in  the  horses,  and  they  all  listened 
for  several  minutes.  The  barking  turned  to  a  yelp 
and  then  a  baying1,  and  almost  at  the  same  time  a  good- 
sized  beast,  bigger  than  the  largest  Angora  cat,  with 
a  full  tail,  sprang  from  the  bushes  into  the  road, 
stopped  to  listen,  and  then  scenting  the  horses  con- 
tinued on  its  way  through  the  bushes  and  disappeared 
among  the  rocks,  while  the  barking  dog  seemed  to  be 
taking  a  zig-zag  course  in  the  opposite  direction. 

"  We  have  seen  the  Coon  without  leaving  the  wagon," 
said  Mr.  Blake,  whipping  up  again.  "  He  evidently 
sprang  from  the  tree  across  one  of  the  brooks  that  feed 
the  river,  and  the  dog  has  lost  the  scent." 

"It  is  a  very  queer  animal,"  said  Olive.  "Father, 
did  you  notice  when  it  sat  up  to  listen  it  looked  like 
a  little  Bear,  in  spite  of  its  long  tail  ?  " 

"  That  is  not  strange,  considering  that  it  is  a  cousin 
of  Bears,"  said  the  Doctor. 

"  Coons  are  real  clever,"  said  Rap.  "  The  one  I  had 
could  do  ever  so  many  tricks,  and  used  its  paws  as  if 
they  were  hands." 

"  What  are  Coons  good  for  —  to  eat  or  wear  ?  "  asked 
Dodo. 

"  Both,"  said  the  Doctor.  "  Their  fur  is  soft  and 
prettily  brindled,  and  if  they  are  young,  the  flesh  is 
not  unlike  Rabbit." 

"  Mammy  Bun  says  they  used  to  have  Coons  down 
♦where  she  lived,  but  their  fur  wasn't  good  for  much." 

"  The  fur  of  an  animal  living  in  the  South  is  never 
as  good  as  the  fur  of  the  same  species  living  in  the 
North." 

"  Why  is  that  ?  "  asked  Nat. 


80  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Because  fur  is  given  animals  to  protect  them  from 
the  cold  ;  the  summer  coat  of  a  fur  beast  is  thin,  as 
you  see  the  summer  coat  of  a  horse  is  short,  com- 
pared to  the  thick  coat  that  grows  out  at  the  first  cold 
weather.  (Look  at  Tom  and  Jerry  and  see  how  woolly 
they  are  now.)  As  it  is  never  very  cold  in  the  South, 
the  fur  animals  do  not  need  such  thick,  soft  coats  as 
they  do  here,  while  in  Canada  and  northward,  where  the 
winter  is  far  longer  and  colder  than  with  us,  the  fur 
is  heavier  yet." 

"  There  is  a  word  I've  heard  hunters  use  for  the  fur 
of  animals,  the  same  as  plumage  means  the  feathers  of 
birds,  only  I've  forgotten  it,"  said  Rap. 

"Pelage,  is  it  not?  It  comes  from  peau  (pelt), 
which  means  furry  skin  ,  a  skin  used  for  the  leather 
instead  of  fur  is  called  a  hide." 

Two  men  stepped  across  the  road,  with  what  looked 
like  Rabbits  and  Grouse  hanging  over  their  shoulders, 
but  slunk  into  the  shadow  of  some  bushes  when  they 
saw  the  wagon. 

"  Pot  hunters,  I  know,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  "  snaring 
and  trapping,  as  usual." 

"  How  do  you  know  they  trapped  the  birds,  daddy  ?  " 
said  Nat. 

"  Because  they  had  no  guns  and  hid  when  they  saw 
us.  If  you  watch  wood  life  much,  my  boy,  you  will  soon 
learn  to  see  the  reason  why  for  things,  and  it  is  very 
often  the  reason  that  helps  you  to  see  the  thing  itself.  * 

"  Hoo-hoo-hoooo  !  "  came  a  cry  from  over  a  very 
dark  bit  of  road  through  which  they  were  going. 

"  Nat,  there  is  one  of  your  friends,  —  the  Great 
Horned  Owl,"  said  the  Doctor. 


OUT- DOOR    COOKERY  81 

"What  is  that  —  a  Skunk?"  asked  Olive,  as  some- 
thing black  and  white  ran  across  the  road.  "  It  is 
striped  so  that  it  hardly  shows  in  the  moonlight." 

"  Yes  ;  a  Skunk,  or  rather  what  Tommy  Anne  calls 
a  'Scent  Cat.'  There  is  a  great  deal  of  argument  as 
to  whether  its  black  and  white  coat  protects  it  or  not." 

'.'  I  should  say  that  it  certainly  did  protect  it  on 
moonlight  nights,  but  not  on  very  dark  nights,"  said 
Mr.   Blake. 

"  I  shouldn't  think  that  would  count ;  on  dark  nights 
you  couldn't  see  it  at  all  —  only  smell  it,"  said  Dodo, 
and  then  every  one  laughed  at  her  matter-of-fact  way 
of  looking  at  things. 

Between  talking  and  listening  to  the  strange  sounds 
of  night,  it  seemed  but  a  short  drive  home.  They 
left  Rap  at  his  gate,  and  soon  the  lamp  on  the  porch 
at  the  farm  was  making  their  eyes  blink,  and  when  the 
children  were  unwrapped  from  their  blankets,  Dodo 
was  really  asleep  in  her  bag. 

"  I  might  as  well  be  sleepy  now  as  not,"  she  mur- 
mured, as  her  father  lifted  her  down,  "  because  Ave 
can't  begin  to  fix  our  camp  until  next  Saturday,  can 
we  ?  " 

"  Neigh,  n-e-i-g-h  !  "  snorted  Tom  and  Jerry,  know- 
ing their  supper  \vas  waiting  for  them  at  the  barn, 
but  Dodo  was  so  sleepy  that  she  thought  they  were 
answering'  her. 


VII 


CAMP   SATURDAY 


SRHAPS  you  expect  that  the  chil- 
dren immediately  began  to  tease  the 
Doctor  about  their  indoor  camp  ; 
but  more  than  a  week  passed,  after 
their  visit  to  Nez,  before  they  had 
time  even  to  think  about  their 
uncle's  promise.  The  next  Sat- 
urday they  went  chestnutting,  and 
^^fi^MlS  so  it  was  the  first  part  of  November 
when  a  cold,  cloudy  day  drove  the 
children  indoors  and  made  them  knock  on  the  door  of 
the  wonder  room  in  quest  of  their  uncle,  much  as  they 
had  done  six  months  before,  when  they  were  disputing 
as  to  whether  or  not  a  bird  was  an  animal. 

"We've  been  trying  tp  get  into  the  old  kitchen, 
but  the  door  is  locked,  and  there  are  great  tight  shut- 
ters at  all  the  windows,"  said  Dodo,  before  she  had 
fairly  crossed  the  threshold. 

"Which  means,  I  suppose,"  said  the  Doctor,  "that 
you  are  ready  to  make  camp  and  wish  me  to  help  you. 
I  had  been  wondering  how  long  it  would  be  before 
you  asked  me  to  keep  my  promise.  Go  and  find 
Olive,  while  I  get  the  key." 

This  old    summer   kitchen  was    joined   on   one  side 

82 


CAMP   SATURDAY  83 

to  the  main  house  by  a  covered  passageway,  and  was 
quite  like  a  separate  building.  When  the  Doctor 
unlocked  the  door,  the  light  was  so  dim  that  all  the 
children  could  see  was  the  outline  of  an  enormous 
chimney,  that  seemed  to  be  quite  in  the  centre  of  the 
room.  In  a  moment,  however,  Rod  came  in  and  threw 
open  the  shutters. 

"  Why,  father,"  said  Olive,  "  I  never  saw  such  a 
chimney  anywhere  before.  How  did  it  come  here? 
Was  it  put  up  first  and  then  the  room  built  around  it?  " 

Indeed,  the  chimney  was  almost  as  large  as  a  small 
room  ;  the  open  fireplace  on  one  side  would  allow  half 
a  dozen  people  to  sit  around  the  fire,  while  on  the  oppo- 
site part  there  was  a  little  iron  door. 

"  What  is  this  ?  "  asked  Dodo,  promptly  opening  it. 

"  That  was  the  brick  oven  where  the  pies  and  bread 
used  to  be  baked  in  the  olden  time." 

"  But  it  has  a  stone  floor  and  is  so  far  from  the  fire  I 
should  think  it  would  have  taken  most  forever  for  the 
heat  to  have  gone  through  ;   and  it's  very  big." 

"  The  heat  didn't  come  from  the  fireplace,"  said 
Olive.  "  People  used  to  fill  the  oven  with  wood,  a 
great  many  hours  before  they  wanted  to  bake,  and  then 
when  the  stones  were  very  hot  they  would  sweep  out 
all  the  cinders  and  ashes  and  pop  in  the  bread  and 
things.  The  oven  was  made  large  so  that  they  might 
save  trouble  by  baking  a  quantity  of  food  at  once." 

"  Why,  then,  in  those  old  times  living  was  something 
like  camping  out,  wasn't  it,  Uncle  Roy?"  said  Nat. 

"  Very  much,  but  it  made  the  people  quick-witted, 
hardy,  and  self-reliant,  ready  for  any  emergency  that 
might  happen,  just  as  the  Avild  out-door  life  does." 


84  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

'"Oh,  look  at  the  floor!"  exclaimed  Dodo;  "it's 
made  of  bricks  set  in  a  wiggly  pattern,  with  sand  in 
the  cracks ;  and  the  beams  show  overhead,  and  there's 
no  plaster  on  the  walls." 

"I  think  we  could  make  a  really  wild-looking  place 
of  this,  if  we  only  had  some  skins,  and  antlers,  and 
guns,  and  such  things,"  said  Olive,  walking  about  the 
room  quite  as  much  excited  as  her  little  cousins. 

Rod  had  taken  all  the  rubbish  away  and  made  the 
room  clean,  but  the  Doctor  wished  the  young  people  to 
have  the  pleasure  of  fitting  it  up  themselves. 

"  Come  up  in  the  attic  and  out  in  the  lumber  room  in 
the  barn,  and  I  think  we  shall  find  what  we  need  ;  mean- 
while Rod  will  start  a  fire." 

In  half  an  hour  or  so  the  procession  returned,  every 
one  carrying  something,  while  Mr.  Blake  and  the 
Doctor  brought  in  an  old-fashioned  settle  —  a  sort  of 
table  with  a  top  that  tips  back  and  a  box  underneath, 
making  a  very  comfortable  seat.  This  they  placed  in 
the  middle  of  the  room  facing  the  fire,  and  then  went 
back  for  two  long  benches,  such  as  Avere  once  used  in 
country  schools. 

"May  we  have  one  chair  with  a  back  for  mother  to 
use  when  she  comes  ? "  asked  Dodo,  who  had  been 
told  that  in  a  real  camp  there  was  little  or  no  furni- 
ture. 

"  Aren't  there  to  be  any  bunks  ? "  pleaded  Nat. 
"  Rap  and  I  thought  we  should  like  to  try  sleeping  out 
here  some  time." 

"  Not  so  fast,"  said  the  Doctor.  "  Here,  Olive,  I  will 
drive  some  nails  in  the  chimney  cracks  and  you  can 
hang  up  the   pots  and  pans  and  tin  cups,  for  you  will 


CAMP   SATURDAY  85 

use  the  same  kit  that  we  took  to  the  woods.  Now  for 
tlio  skins,"  and  the  Doctor  began  to  unroll  several 
bundles  that  smelt  of  camphor,  which  had  tilled  the 
biggest  cedar  chest  in  the  attic. 

"  Beast  skins ! "  said  Nat,  "  all  kinds,  shaggy,  and 
bushy,  and  hairy.  Oh,  do  tell  us  what  they  belong  to, 
uncle?" 

"  Not  now  ;  we  will  hang  them  up  around  our  camp, 
and  you  shall  learn  about  each  in  turn,  for  though  some 
are  but  fragments,  every  one  has  a  story." 

"  Do  those  horns  that  papa  is  bringing  belong  with 
the  skins  ? "  asked  Dodo,  as  Mr.  Blake  brought  in  a 
pair  of  smooth,  curved  horns,  like  those  of  some  enor- 
mous bull,  and  also  a  pair  of  branching  antlers  that 
ended  in  little  twig-like  points. 

"  The  smooth  horns  belong  with  this  shaggy  skin," 
said  the  Doctor.  "  I  will  fasten  them  up  over  the  fire- 
place. Have  you  ever  seen  a  beast  with  such  a  coat 
and  horns  ?  " 

"  They  might  belong  to  a  big  wild  cow,"  said  Nat. 

"  I  know,"  said  Dodo.  "  Oh,  Nat,  why  didn't  you 
guess  the  Wild  West  Show  and  the  Buffaloes  ?  " 

"  Here  are  a  lot  of  little  skins,  like  Squirrels'  with- 
out much  tail,  and  one  like  a  big,  striped  pussy  cat. 
Oh,  how  can  we  wait  to  hear  about  them  all !  I  shall 
keep  wondering  and  guessing.  It's  worse  than  the 
puzzles  iii  St.  Nicholas.  What  a  glorious  fire,  too,  — 
as  big  as  the  one  Nez  made  in  the  wood  ;  and  there  is 
a  hook  that  swings  out  to  hold  the  kettle,  so  when  we 
want  to  cook,  we  only  have  to  fix  two  logs  to  hold  the 
pots  the  same  as  Nez  did.  But  there  are  not  enough 
ashes  to  bury  potatoes." 


86  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

(s'We  can  save  the  ashes,"  said  Olive,  "until  we 
have  a  great  heap  of  them." 

"  So  we  can,  and  these  benches  go  into  the  chimney 
on  each  side,  so  we  can  sit  in  there  if  it  grows  cold,  or 
if  we  need  to  watch  the  cooking." 

"Now  some  hooks  and  nails  in  that  corner  for  your 
mop,  dish-rags,  and  dish- pan,  and  you  are  ready  for 
housekeeping,"  said  the  Doctor. 

"All  except  the  broom,"  said  Olive.  "  Nez  had 
fresh  hemlock  twigs  tied  to  a  stick;  but  the  hemlocks 
are  too  scarce  here  to  be  used  in  that  way." 

"I  will  tell  Rod  to  tie  you  a  birch  broom.  That  is 
what  Grandma  Hunter  always  used  on  this  sanded 
brick  floor.  If  there  is  anything  else  wanting,  you 
can  look  for  it  yourselves." 

Long  before  they  had  finished  admiring  their  camp 
the  dinner  bell  rang,  and  they  hurried  to  tidy  them- 
selves, wondering  how  the  morning  had  galloped  away. 
Nat,  who  could  hardly  finish  his  pudding  before  going 
back  to  camp,  came  running  in,  his  eyes  ablaze  with 
questions. 

"  Daddy !  daddy !  Rod  has  taken  your  gun  rack 
from  the  back  entry  into  camp,  and  there  is  a  little 
rifle  in  it  that  I've  never  seen  before ;  and  when 
I  asked  him  what  it  was  for,  lie  said,  '  For  you  and 
Rap  to  hunt  big  game  with.'  I  told  him  that  there 
wasn't  any  big  game  near  here,  and  he  said  :  '  Yes, 
there's  a  Deer  down  between  the  birches  in  the  long 
pasture.  I  saw  it  there  just  now.'  Won't  }~ou  please 
come  and  see,  quick,  before  it  gets  away ;  though  I 
don't  think  it  would  be  nice  to  shoot  it,  for  it's  com- 
pany, and  there's  only  one,  and  we  can't  even  pretend 


CAMP   SATURDAY  87 

that  we  need  it  for  food.  Please  hurry,  or  it  may  run 
away." 

"  I  don't  think  it  will  go,  and  1  am  quite  willing 
that  you  should  shoot  it,"  said  the  Doctor. 

Olive  looked  at  her  father  in  surprise,  but  his  face 
told  nothing.  Dodo  suspected  something,  and  vent- 
ured, "  I  think  it  must  he  a  tame  Deer  you  have 
brought  to  teach  us  with." 

"No,  it  can't  be,"  said  Nat.  "Uncle  would  never 
be  so  cruel  as  to  shut  up  a  tame  Deer  to  be  shot." 

"  Don't  you  think  we  had  better  go  and  see,  instead 
of  talking?"  said  Mr.  Blake.  "There  goes  Rod  down 
the  hill  now.  Who  knows  but  what  he  will  get  the 
first  shot." 

"  I  see  it !  "  cried  Nat ;  "  a  real  big  Deer  with  curly 
horns,  I  mean  antlers,  and  a  skin  about  the  color  of  a 
donkey's.  See,  Olive,  it  stands  between  the  birches 
right  against  the  side  hill." 

"Oh,  it's  moving,"  wailed  Dodo. 

"  It  has  gone.     Rod  has  frightened  it,"  shouted  Nat. 

"  Yes,  it  has  disappeared,  surely,"  said  the  Doctor, 
"  We  might  go  and  see  what  Rod  has  to  say  for  him- 
self." 

"  It  is  behind  the  trees,  I  can  see  its  legs,"  said 
Olive,  as  they  reached  the  pasture.  "  It's  backing  in 
between  the  trees  again.  Why,  father,  it's  a  big 
target  shaped  like  a  Deer  !  " 

So  it  was.  The  animal  was  first  sawed  out  of  wood, 
then  fastened  together  with  movable  legs,  after  the 
fashion  of  a  jumping  Jack.  Then  it  was  padded  a 
little  and  covered  with  stout  sail-cloth,  which  was 
painted  so  that  at  a  short  distance  it   really  looked 


88  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

like  the  animal  itself.  The  cleverest  thing  about  it 
was  the  way  in  which  it  hung  by  cords,  from  a  pole 
fastened  between  the  trees,  in  such  a  way  that  it  could 
be  pulled  to  and  fro,  so  that  the  marksman  could  have 
the  excitement  of  shooting  at  a  moving  object. 

"  Who  made  it  ? "  asked  Dodo,  after  they  had 
recovered  from  their  surprise.  "  It  looks  very  like 
one  of  the  animals  in  my  Noah's  Ark,  only  bigger." 

"I  did,"  said  Mr.  Blake;  "and  it  is  the  common 
American  Deer,  though  I  suspected  your  uncle  would 
ask  if  it  was  a  Rhinoceros." 

"  Oh,  no,  daddy ;  it  isn't  as  queer  as  that,"  said 
Nat,  wondering  why  his  uncle  laughed  so.  "  It  will 
be  bully  —  no,  I  mean  jolly  —  to  shoot  at;  and  when 
we've  plunked  it  all  to  pieces,  perhaps  you  would 
make  us  a  Bear  or  a  Wild  Cat,  so  that  we  can  tell 
where  to  shoot  each  one.  Please,  could  I  have  the 
little  gun  and  try  now  ? " 

"  Yes  ;  Rod  will  bring  it.  There,  isn't  it  a  beauty  ? 
A  Ballard  repeater  !  See  how  the  lock  drops,  and 
you  put  in  the  cartridges  so.  Stop  !  that  will  never 
do  ;  you  were  pointing  the  barrel  almost  at  Dodo. 
The  first  thing  you  must  remember  about  a  gun  is 
never  to  point  it  at  any  one,  even  if  you  are  sure  it  is 
not  loaded  ;  and  the  second  thing  is  always  to  drop  the 
lock  and  make  sure  it  is  empty  before  you  put  it  away. 

"Now  watch  me  put  in  the  cartridges.  So,  now 
close  the  lock  and  pull  the  trigger  back  half-way, 
put  the  butt  against  your  right  shoulder,  so,  bring 
that  little  pinhole  sight,  on  your  gun  barrel,  in  a 
straight  line  between  your  eye  and  the  Deer  back  of 
its  shoulder.     Noav,  hold  fast  and  pull  the  trigger." 


CAMP   SATURDAY  89 

Bang  !  Dodo  screamed  and  put  her  fingers  in  her 
ears.  Nat  looked  eagerly,  fully  expecting  to  have 
blown  the  Deer  to  bits,  but  he  had  not  touched  it. 

"  You  shut  your  eyes  tight  and  tired  almost  straight 
up  into  the  sky,"  laughed  Olive,  who  was  quite  a  clever 
shot  herself. 

"  I  don't  like  a  gun,"  said  Dodo.  "  Is  there  any 
kind  of  anything  that  I  could  shoot  at  an  animal 
target,  that  wouldn't  make  such  a  noise  ?  " 

"  A  good  bow  and  some  arrows  are  what  you  need, 
missy,"  said  her  father  ;  "  and  I'll  make  you  a  beauti- 
ful, fat  pig  for  a  target.  Come  up  to  the  barn  and 
I'll  do  it  now." 

In  a  few  minutes  Mr.  Blake  had  filled  a  feed  bag 
hard  with  cut  hay,  tied  up  one  of  the  lower  corners 
to  make  a  curly  tail,  made  ears  of  corn  husks,  a  face 
of  a  huge  beet,  and  legs  of  corn-cobs. 

"  Now,  Dodo,  I'll  put  this  in  a  nice  place  against 
the  stone  fence,  where  it  can't  fall  over  if  it  gets 
tired  of  standing,  and  you  may  shoot  to  your  heart's 
content.  You  can  play  that  it  is  a  Peccary,  —  the  wild 
American  cousin  of  Sausage  and  all  other  farm  pigs." 

"  Are  there  any  about  here  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no  ;  fortunately  for  us,  they  live  now  in  small 
herds  down  on  the  southeast  plains  of  Texas  and  west- 
ward along  the  Mexican  border,  for  they  are  ugly, 
savage,  slab-sided  little  wild  pigs,  with  a  light  collar 
around  the  neck  like  a  rope  mark,  sly,  keen  eyes,  and 
a  pair  of  small  tusks  sharp  enough  to  cut  a  man's  leg 
in  the  thickest  part,  or  rip  the  throat  of  any  poor  dog 
who  is  forced  to  hunt  them.  Once  they  were  plenti- 
ful enough  to  be  of  value  for  their  hides  and  bristles. 


90  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

and  hunting  them  is  still  considered  good  sport  by 
some  people. 

"  The  Peccary  looks  innocent  enough  as  it  walks 
along  on  the  points  of  its  hoofs,  or  wallows  in  the 
shady  marshes  of  the  river  bottoms,  its  mouth  gaping 
in  a  foolish  fashion  ;  but  if  it  sees  you  —  watch  out. 
If  your  gun  misses,  you  had  better  run,  even  if  you 
have  to  take  to  a  cactus  patch,  for,  appropriately 
enough,  prickles  and  Peccaries  grow  in  the  same  places, 
and  they  are  both  painful  things  to  encounter." 

Dodo  was  delighted  to  think  her  target  was  a  wild 
cousin  of  Sausage's,  and  flew  into  the  house  to  tell  her 
mother  and  promise  her  the  first  shot  at  the  Peccary, 
as  soon  as  she  should  have  her  bow  and  arrows.  Then 
she  flew  out  again  to  coax  her  father  to  make  her  a  good 
tight  bow,  which  he  soon  did  out  of  a  hickory  sapling 
and  some  of  his  pet  fish-line.  Nat,  who  meanwhile  dis- 
appeared, soon  returned  with  Rap,  and  everything  had 
to  be  shown  and  explained  once  more. 

Rap  handled  the  rifle  very  carefully,  as  one  having 
had  experience,  and  then  took  up  the  other  small  gun 
which  Nat  had  overlooked. 

"  How  is  it  different  from  the  other  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  It  has  two  barrels  instead  of  one,"  said  Rap,  "and 
the  cartridges  hold  a  lot  of  shot  instead  of  bullets.  It 
is  for  shooting  little  things." 

"  Why  is  a  lot  of  shot  better  than  a  good  bullet  ?  " 
asked  Nat. 

"  Shot  spreads  out,  and  is  more  likely  to  hit  a  small 
object  than  a  bullet  that  only  strikes  in  one  place. 
If  we  ever  go  up  to  see  Nez  and  hunt  Rabbits,  this  is 
the  gun  we  shall  need,"  said  the  Doctor. 


CAMP   SATURDAY 


91 


After  they  had  practised  awhile,  Rap  had  succeeded 
in  hitting  the  Deer  twice,  but  it  now  began  to  rain  in 
earnest,  and  they  returned  to  the  camp. 

"  Hush  !  "  said  Dodo,  as  they  were  coming  through 
the  corner  door  toward  the  fireplace.  "  See,  we  have 
company  !  Look  at  that  Mouse  sitting  by  the  edge  of 
the  hearth ;  it's  as  friendly  as  anything,  and  it  isn't  a 
common    mouse-trap    Mouse,   either.      Look   what   big 


White-footed  or  Deer  Mouse. 

eyes  it  has,  and  a  lovely  brown  back,  and  its  feet  are 
white,  like  clean  stockings." 

The  Mouse  sat  up  and  began  to  clean  its  paws  and 
wash  its  face  daintily,  while  the  children  watched  it  and 
Olive  tiptoed  out  to  call  her  father. 

"  It  is  a  White-footed  or  Deer  Mouse,"  said  the  Doc- 
tor, "  so  called  because  it  has  a  tawny  back.  Dodo  is 
right,  it  is  not  a  '  common  mouse-trap  Mouse,'  though 
in  some  places  it  does  often  live  in  our  houses.     It  also 


92  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

makes  its  nests  under  tree  roots  and  sometimes  in  old 
birds'  nests.  I  will  set  a  trap  for  it,  and  then  we  can 
look  at  it  closely." 

"  Yes,  uncle,  but  please  not  a  choke  trap ;  it's  too 
pretty.  We  could  look  at  it  ever  so  much  better  if  we 
caught  it  in  one  of  those  little  house-traps,  with  a  wheel 
for  it  to  run  around  in  —  that  they  sell  at  the  store.  I 
can  shake  enough  money  out  of  my  bank  to  buy  one, 
because  I  haven't  shaken  it  for  nearly  two  months." 

"  No  need  of  that ;  there  are  some  old  traps  up  garret 
that  Rod  may  clean  for  you,  and  a  Squirrel  cage  too,  I 
think.  I  am  willing  for  you  to  have  a  few  such  winter 
pets  here  in  camp,  if  you  care  for  them  properly.  It  is 
no  harm  to  keep  a  Squirrel  or  a  Coon  as  a  well-fed 
captive  in  the  hungry  winter  season,  if  you  let  them 
go  again  before  they  pine  for  freedom.  Remember, 
this  camp  is  to  be  the  place  for  your  treasures,  summer 
and  winter. 

"  There  is  plenty  of  room  in  those  empty  dresser 
shelves  for  all  the  sticks  and  stones  and  empty  nests 
you  find,  that  would  only  be  in  the  way  and  make  a 
litter  in  the  house." 

"  Mousey  has  gone  down  between  the  bricks  ! "  ex- 
claimed Dodo.  "  Is  the  Deer  Mouse  a  four-footed 
American,  Uncle  Roy?" 

"  Yes,  a  true  native,  but  the  common,  brown  House 
Mouse  and  Rat  are  the  children  of  foreign  parents, 
who  sneaked  over  here  like  stowaways,  in  bales  of  mer- 
chandise, and  have  now  spread  from  the  seaports,  like 
tramps,  all  over  the  land. 

"  By  the  way,  young  folks,  what  shall  we  call  our 
camp?     It  should  certainly  have  a  name.     You  shall 


CAMP   SATURDAY  93 

have  first  choice,  Olive,  as  Dodo  named  the  wonder 
room." 

"  We  might  call  it  after  some  animal  that  lives  around 
here,1'  suggested  Nat,  as  Olive  hesitated. 

"  Woodchuck  or  Fox  or  Skunk  aren't  nice  names," 
said  Dodo,  "-though  we  might  call  it  after  the  Squirrels." 

"  What  is  the  very  wisest,  cleverest  fourfoot  in  our 
America?"  asked  Nat. 

"  The  Beaver,"  said  the  Doctor ;  "  he  thinks,  plans, 
and  works,  and  his  house  is  quite  worthy  of  the  skill  of 
a  two-handed  engineer." 

"  Then  Beaver  would  be  a  good  name  for  the  camp, 
only  there  are  none  hereabout." 

"  It  would  be  if  it  was  a  go-to-school,  working,  wood- 
cutter's camp,"  said  Mr.  Blake ;  "  but  it  is  too  solemn 
a  name  for  a  jolly  holiday  affair  like  this." 

"  I  have  it,"  said  Olive,  the  idea  coming  to  her  as 
Mr.  Blake  spoke  ;   "  call  it  Camp  Saturday  !  " 

A  clapping  of  hands  followed,  that  made  the  room 
echo  and  the  little  Deer  Mouse  shiver  in  his  hole. 

"  Let's  begin  now  !  We've  had  our  shooting  —  now 
let  us  cook  supper  and  tell  stories !  "  cried  Dodo, 
eagerly. 

"  Not  to-day,"  said  the  Doctor  ;  "  your  mother  has 
still  some  preparations  to  make  ;  but  instead  of  waiting 
for  the  first  snow,  as  I  once  said,  we  will  have  a  big 
game  hunt  a  week  from  to-day  at  two  o'clock,  and  at 
six  we  will  have  our  first  supper  in  Camp  Saturday." 


VIII 


EXPLANATION   NIGHT 

The  Brotherhood  of  Beasts 

N  afternoon  spent  in  what  they  called 
hunting  —  shooting  at  the  targets 
in  the  long  pasture  —  had  given 
them  wonderful  appetites  for 
supper,  or  probably  Dodo  would 
have  noticed  that  she  had  scorched 
the  cream  toast  a  little,  and  that 
there  were  lumps  in  the  cocoa; 
but  Olive's  omelet,  with  its 
seasoning  of  herbs,  was  as 
delicious  as  an  omelet  can  only  be  when  eaten  directly 
from  the  fire. 

Camp  Saturday  was  fairly  opened,  the  first  supper 
eaten,  the  dishes  all  washed  and  put  away,  and  the 
spider  and  kettles  hung  on  their  nails  behind  the  chim- 
ney. The  boys  did  the  dish-washing  and  fed  the  fire, 
as  division  of  labor  is  one  of  the  first  rules  of  camp 
living. 

"  I  wonder  how  long  it  will  be  before  I  can  hit  the 
Deer  when  it  is  moving  ?  "  said  Nat,  who  was  looking 
into  the  fire  and  thinking  of  the  afternoon's  sport. 
"  Not  before  spring,"  said  Dodo,  positively  ;   "  for  you 

94 


EXPLANATION  NIGHT  95 

only  hit  it  once,  'way  back  where  it  didn't  hurt  it, 
when  it  stood  still,"  speaking  as  if  the  target  was  a  live 
thing ;  "  but  I  shot  my  Peccary  pretty  nearly  in  the 
head." 

This  remark  made  the  others  laugh,  as  Dodo  had 
only  succeeded  in  missing  the  Peccary's  nose  by  an  inch 
or  so. 

"  I  don't  see  how  you  can  shoot  so  well  lying  on  the 
ground,  Rap,"  she  continued.  "  I  should  think  it  would 
squeeze  you  all  up ;  but  you  hit  the  Deer  twice." 

"  I  suppose  it's  because  I've  tried  before,  with  a 
bigger  gun  that  kicked  when  it  went  off,  so  the  little 
one  seemed  very  easy,  and,  even  if  you  have  two  legs, 
you  can  keep  steadier  lying  down  than  standing  up." 

"  Who  is  going  to  tell  the  story  to-night  —  you, 
father,  or  Uncle  Jack?"  asked  Olive,  hanging  up  her 
big  apron  and  taking  her  place  in  the  chimney  nook ; 
for  though  the  campfire  was  roaring  and  glowing,  the 
far-away  parts  of  the  old  room  were  too  cold  for  sitting 
still,  and  the  young  people  wore  long  coats  which  Mrs. 
Blake  had  made  from  rough  red  and  blue  blankets  — 
a  cross  between  toboggan  suits  and  blanket  wrappers, 
which  served  not  only  to  keep  them  very  warm,  but 
prevented  the  wood  sparks  from  setting  fire  to  their 
lighter  clothes. 

"We  shall  not  have  any  stories  to-night,"  said  her 
father  ;  "  this  will  be  Explanation  Night  — the  explana- 
tion of  the  Mammal  tree,  where  we  shall  find  our  four- 
footed  Americans.  You  must  learn  and  remember 
some  things  about  this  tree  before  we  begin  to  climb 
it,  for  when  Nez  and  Olaf  tell  you  stories,  they  may  not 
like  to  be  interrupted  by  too  many  questions. 


96  FOUB-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"Do  you  remember  the  two  great  divisions  of  the 
animal  kingdom  or  tree,  as  we  call  it?  " 

"  Yes,"  shouted  Rap  and  Nat,  "  trunk  and  branches. 
The  first  animal  was  the  trunk  that  separated  it  from 
the  vegetable  world.  Animals  without  backbones  were 
the  lower  branches  and  animals  with  backbones  the  top 
branches." 

"  And  what  class  of  animals  live  on  the  highest 
branch  ?  " 

"M- — -mammals,  that  give  m  —  milk,"  said  Dodo,  so 
quickly  that  the  others  had  no  time  to  answer. 

"  Because  this  top  Mammal  branch  is  so  large,  I  told 
you  that  I  would  make  a  tree  of  it  all  by  itself.  Here 
it  is  :  now  you  can  see  how  man  and  his  blood  brothers 
are  related."  So  saying,  the  Doctor  unrolled  a  long 
sheet  of  paper  and  fastened  it  to  a  door,  where  the 
firelight  shone  brightly  on  it. 

"  This  tree  has  several  more  branches  when  it  grows 
in  warmer  countries.  You  can  see  where  they  belong: 
two  very  low  down  by  the  trunk,  and  one  up  near  the 
top  where  the  Monkeys  live.  This  winter  you  must 
be  content  to  stmty  the  tree  as  it  grows  north  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Rio  Grande,  up  to  the  land  of 
snow  and  the  northern  lights.  Nat,  go  to  the  wonder 
room  and  bring  me  the  map  of  North  America  that 
hangs  there.  We  will  hang  it  on  one  side  of  the 
animal  tree. 

"  You  see  that  the  Rio  Grande  is  the  river  that 
bounds  the  United  States  on  the  southwest,  and  the  few 
branches  that  are  cut  from  our  tree  belong  to  the  tropi- 
cal animals  that  only  stray  north  of  this  river  by  mere 
accident. 


North  American  Mammal  Tree,  showing  the  Chief  Branches. 


97 


98  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Of  course  in  climbing  this  tree  we  shall  only  find 
the  living  Mammals,  the  extinct  species  belong  to  an- 
other branch  of  study." 

"  What  are  'stinct  animals  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  Gone  out  ones,  I  guess,"  said  Rap,  "  because  'stin- 
guishing  a  candle  means  putting  it  out." 

"  Make  the  word  extinguish  and  you  will  be  perfectly 
right,  my  boy,"  said  the  Doctor. 

"  I  suppose  the  ones  that  are  dead  looked  like  the 
live  ones,  didn't  they  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  By  extinct  animals  the  Wise  Men  mean  not  merely 
those  that  are  dead,  but  those  that  lived  so  long  ago 
that  even  their  exact  pattern  has  disappeared  from  the 
earth,  better  designs  having  replaced  them." 

"  Then  how  does  anybody  know  about  them  ? " 
asked  Rap.     "  By  reading  in  books,  I  suppose." 

"  These  animals  had  passed  away  before  there  were 
any  books,  and  before  man,  as  we  know  him,  was  living 
on  the  earth ;  so  all  we  can  know  about  them  must  be 
learned  from  the  skeletons  that  are  found  buried  be- 
neath the  earth,  and  in  the  rocks  and  beds  of  old-time 
clay  and  silt.  The  study  of  these  bones  is  called 
Palaeontology." 

"  How  could  their  bones  get  into  hard  rock  ?  "  asked 
Rap  and  Nat  almost  together. 

"  That  question  has  a  very  long  answer,  and  belongs 
to  the  story  of  when  the  earth  was  young  ;  but  it  will 
help  you  to  remember  this  much  :  — 

"  The  earth  was  once  a  fiery  ball  of  gases  like  the  sun. 
The  time  came  when  it  was  needed  by  the  Mind  that 
plans  and  sets  everything  in  motion,  and  He  began  to 
develop  it  by  degrees  as   He   does  everything  ;  for  in 


EXPLANATION  NIGHT  99 

His  realm  there  is  no  trickery  or  magic,  nothing  with- 
out a  reason,  nothing  sudden  or  unforeseen.  So  this 
growth  of  our  planet  from  a  fiery  ball  to  the  earth  Ave 
know  took  millions  of  what  we  call  years,  and,  at  first, 
there  was  no  plant  life,  but  only  a  molten  mass  which, 
when  it  cooled,  turned  to  rock,  making  a  crust. 

"  After  a  long  time,  when  the  first  animals  were 
needed,  they  were  made  to  suit  the  earth  as  it  Avas  then  ; 
but  the  surface  of  the  earth  Avas  constantly  changing  — 
heating  and  cooling  as  the  top  of  a  cake  changes  and 
cracks  in  the  baking.  Land  came  Avhere  Avater  had 
been ;  forests  Avhere  all  Avas  barren ;  then  the  animal 
life  Avas  changed  and  changed  again  and  adapted,  ahvays 
groAving  of  a  higher  kind,  until  the  earth  Avas  ready  as 
a  home  for  man  himself,  Avho  is  the  King  of  Animals, 
—  living  on  the  top  branch  of  the  same  animal  tree  to 
be  sure,  but  separated  and  raised  above  his  blood 
brothers  by  wearing  the  image  of  God,  Avhich  is  the 
soul. 

"  The  different  periods  through  which  the  earth  and 
its  vegetable  and  animal  life  has  passed  can  be  seen 
by  digging  down  through  the  earth's  crust  as  you 
Avould  cut  through  a  layer  cake.  Some  day  Ave  will 
study  about  this,  but  iioav  Ave  must  return  to  Man, 
the  tAvo-handed,  tAvo-legged  King,  and  look  at  what  he 
sees  from  the  top  of  his  tree,  as  he  looks  down  on  his 
subjects  and  blood  brothers,  most  of  Avhom  have  four 
legs,  though  some,  as  you  Avill  see,  have  none  at  all." 

"But,  father,"  asked  Olive,  "do  you  think  there  will 
ever  be  any  higher  sort  of  animal  than  man  ?  " 

"  There  may  be  a  more  perfect  race  of  men  than 
those  Ave  knoAV  ;  for  of  the  living  races  some  are  more 


100  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

elevated  and  spiritual  than  others,  and  everything  in 
the  great  Plan  moves  upward." 

"  You  have  made  a  picture  of  an  Indian  on  the  top 
branch  of  our  Mammal  tree,  but  there  aren't  so  many  of 
them  alive  now  as  of  us,  are  there  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"No,  my  boy,  I  put  him  there  because,  speaking  cor- 
rectly, he  is  a  native  American  like  the  fourfoots  ;  but 
a  great  change  is  coming  over  the  tree.  Some  of  its 
lower  branches  are  dying  off,  as  well  as  the  top  branch, 
and  of  these  changes  and  their  reasons  I  hope  you  will 
learn  from  our  campfire  stories/' 

The  children  looked  at  the  map  for  some  time,  read- 
ing the  names  on  the  branches,  tracing  with  their  fin- 
gers the  different  twigs  and  the  outlines  of  the  animals 
in  which  they  ended. 

Finally  Nat  asked,  "  Is  there  anything  else  in  which 
Mammals  are  alike  except  that  they  have  warm  red 
blood  and  nurse  their  young  ?  " 

"  If  you  should  look  at  the  skeleton  of  a  cat,  a  bear, 
a  horse,  and  a  man,  you  would  see  that  in  the  skeletons 
of  all  these  Mammals  the  plan  is  much  the  same,  dif- 
ferent parts  being  developed  to  suit  the  way  in  which 
the  members  of  each  family  move  or  get  their  food. 

"  The  Gnawers  have  strong,  square  teeth,  the  diggers 
powerful  fore  paws,  the  Leapers  strong,  long  hind  legs, 
the  Swimmers  webbed  hind  feet  and  tails  like  paddles, 
and  so  on,  and  remember  that  all  Mammals  are  more  or 
less  covered  with  hair." 

"  Covered  with  hair  ?  I  never  thought  of  that.  Is 
fur,  hair  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  Fur,  hair,  and  wool  are  really  all  the  same  things, 
developed  in  different  ways,  though  they  look  unlike. 


EXPLANATION  NIGHT  101 

The  hair  of  a  horse  is  harsh,  of  a  eat  soft,  of  a  Musk- 
rat  the  longer  hair  is  stiff  and  wiry  and  the  under-coat 
soft,  and  what  we  call  furry.  You  know  that  the  hair 
on  a  baby's  head  is  soft  and  downy,  and  not  sharp  as  it 
grows  to  be  later  on. 

"  There  are  quite  a  number  of  other  things  that  the 
Mammals  have  in  common  with  King  Man.  They  have 
intelligence,  as  well  as  instinct,  and  they  can  think  and 
reason  also." 

"  I  don't  quite  understand  about  instinct  and  all 
that,"  said  Rap.  "  I  know  what  thinking  is,  of  course  ; 
but  I  thought  that  only  House  People  could  think  and 
talk." 

"Ah,  there  is  where  older  heads  than  yours  make  a 
mistake,"  said  the  Doctor,  stooping  to  pile  up  the  fire 
that  was  settling  forward,  adding  a  few  pine  cones  to 
make  it  blaze. 

"Animals  talk,  though  not  in  our  words,  and  they 
have  also  a  language  of  signs  and  smells  that  we  but 
poorly  understand,  although  the  savage  races  and 
people  who  live  much  outdoors  have  similar  ways,  and 
can  read  many  things  by  this  sign  language  that  would 
puzzle  very  intelligent  House  People. 

"  Let  me  see  if  I  can  explain  the  difference  between 
intelligence  and  instinct.  Eating  comes  by  instinct ; 
a  baby  eats  without  thinking,  as  well  as  other  young 
animals.  An  animal  may  help  itself  to  the  kind  of 
food  that  its  family  is  in  the  habit  of  eating,  and  that, 
too,  is  an  act  of  instinct. 

"  Now  listen,  an  animal  sees  a  bit  of  meat  hanging  in 
the  air ;  it  is  bait  tied  by  a  string  to  a  trap  set  to  kill 
him.      He  does  not  know  this  by  instinct,  for  this  per- 


102  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

haps  is  the  first  time  man  and  their  traps  have  ever 
been  near  one  of  his  tribe.  He  takes  the  meat  and  is 
caught,  but  succeeds  in  getting  free  again.  Some  ani- 
mals are  so  clever  that  once  having  been  caught,  or 
having  seen  a  brother  beast  caught,  they  set  to  work  to 
think  out  a  way  of  cutting  the  string  and  getting  the 
meat  without  being  caught  in  the  trap.  This  shows 
reason  and  intelligence,  does  it  not?  " 

"  Why,  of  course  it  does.  Please,  what  fourfoots 
are  clever  enough  for  that  except  Foxes?  They  are 
smarter  than  some  people,"  said  Rap. 

"  You  will  learn  of  these  clever  ones  branch  by 
branch  and  twig  by  twig.  I  am  only  trying  to  tell 
you  how  to  start  up  the  tree  to-night.  One  thing  more 
about  intelligence,"  said  the  Doctor.  "  You  all  of  you 
have  dreamed  sometimes ;  can  you  tell  of  what  dreams 
are  made  ?  " 

No  one  was  in  a  hurry  to  answer,  and  Olive  said  : 
"  They  are  a  jumble  of  something  that  has  happened 
and  lots  of  things  that  never  have,  but  that  seem  quite 
real." 

"  Yes,  that  is  a  good  answer  ;  for  dreams  are  a  blend- 
ing of  memory  —  the  remembrance  of  something  that 
has  happened  —  and  imagination,  which  is  creating 
something." 

"  Making  it  up,  do  you  mean  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  Yes,  making  up  —  inventing  ;  so  any  one  who 
dreams  must  have  more  or  less  intelligence,  and  many 
Mammals  dream." 

"  I  know  they  do  !  "  exclaimed  Nat.  "  Mr.  Wolf 
dreams  and  growls  away  like  everything,  and  the  other 
night  Quick  was  sleeping  by  my  bed  and  he  gave  a  lot 


EXPLANATION-  NIGHT  103 

of  little  sharp  barks  like  those  he  gives  at  cats  and 
Woodchucks,  and  all  the  hair  over  his  backbone  ruffled 
up ;  but  when  I  looked  at  him  his  eyes  were  shut 
tight." 

"  Mammals  are  of  a  good  many  sizes,  and  move  about 
in  a  great  many  different  ways, — run  and  lope  and 
jump,  —  but  they  almost  all  have  four  legs,  don't 
they  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  They  are  of  all  sizes,  from  a  Mouse  of  a  few  inches 
to  the  great  Whales  that  measure  seventy  or  eighty 
feet  in  length,  but  they  are  not  by  any  means  all  pro- 
vided with  four  legs.  Mammals  are  often  called 
Quadrupeds,  or  four-footed  animals,  and  the  greater 
number  do  have  four  feet ;  but  one  has  two  feet,  while 
others  like  the  Whale  have  no  feet. 

"  The  majority  of  Mammals  live  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  and  their  limbs  are  formed  for  walking. 
They  never  have  more  than  two  pairs  of  legs,  and  may 
lack  hind  limbs ;  but  you  will  never  see  them  with  hind 
legs  and  no  fore  limbs." 

"  There  are  lots  of  useful  Mammals,  too,  besides  all 
the  little  nuisance  ones,  aren't  there,  Uncle  Roy?" 
asked  Dodo. 

"  Yes,  surely ;  Mammals  are  the  most  useful  of 
all  animals.  They  supply  us  with  meat,  milk,  hides, 
wool,  fur,  horn,  and  ivory.  The  Whale  gives  oil, 
whalebone,  and  spermaceti  ;  the  hoofed  Mammals  — 
horses,  oxen,  etc. —  are  draught  animals.  I  want  you 
to  look  at  your  tree  and  I  will  show  you  the  ladder  I 
have  made  to  go  with  it.  You  remember  the  way  in 
which  the  Bird  Families  all  walked  together  in  a  pro- 
cession, each  wearing  his   Latin  name,  that  the  Wise 


104  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Men  gave  him,  in  addition  to  his  English  one.  This 
ladder  is  arranged  so  that  when  yon  hear  a  story  of  an 
animal,  you  can  look  at  it  and  see  in  what  family  he 
belongs,  in  what  guild  he  works,  and  his  place  in  the 
tree.  If  we  ever  make  our  stories  into  a  book  we 
will  put  this  ladder  at  the  end  to  help  little  people  who 
might  not  be  able  to  climb  our  tree  without  it." 

"  Are  those  fourfoots  all  made  into  families  and 
guilds  ?  How  is  it  done,  by  watching  their  claws  and 
mouths,  what  they  eat,  and  the  way  they  work,  the 
same  as  with  the  birds  ?" 

"  Partly,"  said  the  Doctor,  laughing,  "  only  it  is  teeth 
and  feet  with  Mammals,  instead  of  bills  and  claws. 

"  The  Wise  Men,  by  measuring,  comparing,  and 
studying  the  bones  of  these  Mammals,  have  divided 
them  into  groups  or  classes,  keeping  those  the  most 
like  together.  This  is  called  classification,  and  is  very 
important.  If  they  had  not  done  this,  you  would  never 
guess,  by  looking  at  pictures  or  at  stuffed  animals  in  a 
Museum,  that  a  Whale  is  one  of  your  blood  brothers 
and  not  a  great  fish  ;  or  that  the  Bat,  that  }tou  see 
flitting  about  at  twilight,  is  not  a  bird." 

"  I'm  sure  it  takes  a  lot  of  believing  to  know  that  a 
Whale  isn't  a  fish  anyway,"  said  Nat.  "  Do  Mammals 
have  tools  to  work  with  the  same  as  birds  have  chisel 
and  hooked  bills  and  all  that  ?  " 

"Yes,  every  Mammal  has  either  a  tool  or  weapon, 
and  sometimes  the  same  thing  answers  for  both,  as  you 
will  see." 

"  You  need  not  trouble  yourself  with  learning  your 
ladder  by  heart  all  at  once  ;  but  when  you  have  heard  a 
story  about  an  animal,  go  to  the  ladder  and  it  will  help 


EXPLANATION   NIGHT  105 

you  to  find  on  which  branch  of  the  tree  and  to  what 
guild  it  belongs." 

"  Shall  we  make  tables  as  we  did  about  the  birds  ? 
I  love  to  write  them,"  said  Dodo. 

"  Color,  size,  and  all  the  guilds  to  which  they  belong? 
I  think  not,"  said  the  Doctor  ;  "  for  you  will  not  be  able 
to  see  as  many  of  these  fourfoots  for  yourselves  as  you 
did  of  the  birds,  and  that  is  the  reason  why  I  have 
made  the  ladder  with  a  step  in  it  for  each  animal, 
plainly  marked  with  its  size  and  color." 

"  Couldn't  we  write  down  the  names  of  the  guilds, 
then  ?  "  coaxed  Dodo. 

"  Certainly  ;  if  you  like,  you  can  end  the  evening  by 
writing  a  list  of  the  guilds  and  groups  to  which  our 
four-footed,  no-footed,  and  wing-handed  Americans 
belong." 

"How  many  Mammals  shall  we  learn  about — one 
hundred,  like  the  Birds  ?  " 

"  Seventy-five  ;  I  think  that  will  cover  all  the  most 
interesting,  and  I  have  in  my  portfolio  the  pictures  of 
about  that  number  to  show  you. 

"  We  may  divide  our  Mammals  into  eight  chief 
guilds,  though  the  larger  ones  have  several  societies 
or  branches,  and  I  will  give  }'OU  the  name  of  an  animal 
belonging  to  each  guild  to  help  you  remember." 

I.  Pouch  Wearers The  females  of  this  guild  carry  their 

young  in  a  pocket.  (The  Opossum 
belongs  here.) 

II.  Sea  Cows Clumsy  water  animals,  who  feed  upon 

water  plants,  helping  themselves  with 
their  Hipper-like  fore  legs.  Hind  legs 
wanting.     (Manatee.) 


106  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

III.  Rollers    ........  Salt-water  Mammals,  whose  fore  limbs 

are  hidden  in  skin  mittens.  They  roll 
through  the  water  and  are  helpless  on 
land.      (Whale.) 

IV.  Hoof  Wearers Swift-moving  Mammals,  with  toes  com- 

pacted into  small  feet,  called  hoofs, 
and  having  their  horns  in  pairs. 

(a)  Rooters.     With  two  upper  tusks  like  a  Pig.     (Peccary.) 

(b)  Solid-homed  Cud-chewers.     Hard,  branching,  bony  horns 

like  a  Deer.     (Moose.) 

(c)  Hollow-horned  Cud-chewers.     Hollow,  curved  horns  like  a 

Cow.     (Buffalo.) 

V.  Gnawers The     largest    guild    among    fourfoots. 

Animals  with  four  sharp,  front-cut- 
ting teeth.  All  eat  vegetable  food, 
though  some  prefer  animal.  All  the 
nuisance  animals  are  Gnawers. 

(a)  Shadow-tailed    Gnawers.       Having    upright,   plumy   tails. 

(Gray  Squirrel.) 

(b)  Burrowing  Gnawers.     Those  who  make  their  homes  under 

ground.     (Woodchuck.) 

(c)  Swimming  Gnawers.     Those  who  spend  part  of  their  time 

in  the  water  and  usually  live  near  it.     (Muskrat.) 

(d)  Long-eared,    Short-tailed    Gnawers.      Having   Rabbit-like 

ears.     (Wood  Hare.) 

VI.  Flesh  Eaters Mammals  with  four,  long-pointed  dog- 

like teeth  for  tearing  meat. 

(a)  Claw-handed  Flesh  Eaters.  Toes  ending  in  movable  claws 
like  the  house  cats.      (Wildcat.) 

(J.))  Dog-nosed  Flesh  Eaters.  With  pointed  muzzles  and  bark- 
ing calls.     (Fox.) 

(c)  The  Greedy  Growlers.  Beasts  who  eat  both  meat,  fruit, 
and  vegetables.     (Bear.) 

(il)  Little  Fur  Bearers.  Who  all  yield  fur  of  more  or  less 
value.     (Mink.) 

(e)  Water  People,     (beat    Mammals   with   flipper-like  limbs, 

living  chiefly  in  the  water.     (Seal.) 

VII.   Bug  Biters Burrowers,    who    kill   harmful   insects. 

(Moles.) 


EXPLANATION  NIGHT  107 

VIII.   Winged  Hunters  .  .  Mammals  who  have  membranes  between 

the  fingers  of  their  hands  or  lore  limbs 
that  form  wings.     (Bats.) 

"  These  guilds  will  perhaps  be  harder  for  you  to 
remember  in  the  beginning'  than  the  Bird  Guilds,  for 
there  are  more  of  them,  and  they  have  longer  names ; 
but  if  you  look  at  the  tree  and  pictures,  and  try  to 
remember  one  animal  that  belongs  to  each  guild,  all  the 
rest  will  follow." 

"  Uncle,"  said  Nat,  "  do  our  Mammals  make  long 
spring  and  fall  journeys  as  the  birds  do,  and  can  we 
divide  them  into  citizens,  and  summer  citizens,  and 
visitors  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes  !  and  do  they  pay  taxes  and  work  for  their 
living  like  Citizen  Bird  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  Nat,  your  question  is  easier  to  answer  than  Dodo's. 
Mammals  do  not  travel  as  birds  do,  and  few,  if  any, 
have  a  regular  time  for  moving  except  to  shift  their 
feeding  grounds  for  various  reasons.  Of  course,  if 
parts  of  the  country  are  settled  by  House  People,  and 
woods  are  cut  down  and  wild  pasture  ploughed  up,  or 
waterways  drained,  the  animals  who  have  lived  there 
will  move  on  to  new  homes  ;  but  this  is  not  a  regular 
migration. 

"  Then,  again,  grass-eating  animals,  who  spend  the 
summer  in  the  mountains,  come  down  into  sheltered 
valleys  for  the  winter,  and  so  on  ;  but  in  spite  of  this  we 
cannot  call  our  Mammals  travellers.  It  is  difficult  to 
say  which  of  them  are  useful  citizens,  some  undoubt- 
edly are,  and  pay  taxes  by  killing  nuisance  animals,  and 
yielding  fur  or  food,  but  in  a  very  different  way  from 
Citizen  Bird,  who  works  with  us  to  raise  the  crops. 


108  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  They  were  undoubtedly,  in  the  true  sense,  all  once 
useful  citizens  of  the  Republic  of  Nature,  when  every 
spoke  was  in  place  in  the  great  balance-wheel,  and 
man  had  only  the  things  that  were  created  for  his 
use,  had  not  invented  anything  for  himself,  and  was 
called  uncivilized  ;  but  all  that  was  long  ago.  This 
is  changed  now,  and  you  will  find,  when  you  hear 
the  stories,  that  guns  have  driven  away  animals  that 
arrows  could  not  kill,  and  some  beasts,  missing  their 
natural  food,  have  taken  to  eating  things  that  were  not 
intended  for  them,  and  have  become  beasts  of  prey  and 
nuisance  animals. 

"  One  thing  I  want  you  to  remember.  The  skins  of 
these  Mammals  were  the  very  first  prizes  that  America 
offered  to  the  white  people  when  they  came  here  —  the 
first  wealth  of  the  land.  The  trappers  were  of  an 
earlier  tribe  than  the  miners.  The  pelts  of  the  fur 
beasts  brought  money  while  the  treasures  of  gold, 
silver,  copper,  and  coal  were  still  hidden  deep  under 
ground.  But  man,  by  killing  these  Mammals  waste- 
fully  and  even  during  their  breeding  seasons,  has  made 
them  now  exceedingly  rare.  One  by  one  they  are 
growing  fewer  and  shyer,  and  the  animals  that  came 
over  seas,  as  we  did,  in  the  long  ago,  are  filling  their 
places  as  far  as  they  are  able.  The  long-horned  cattle 
feed  on  the  prairies  in  place  of  the  Bison,  just  as  our 
houses  stand  on  the  ground  once  occupied  by  the  red- 
man's  wigwam/' 

"  But  it  is  better  to  have  House  People  and  cows 
in  America  than  savages  and  Bison,  isn't  it  ?  "  asked 
Olive,  who  saw  that  the  children  looked  puzzled. 

"  Yes,  it  means  progress,  and  one  of  Heart  of  Nat- 


EXPLANATION  NIGHT  109 

lire's  laws  is  that  nothing  shall  stand  still.  When  a 
tree  can  no  longer  grow,  it  must  decay  and  turn  into 
earth,  that  some  other  tree  may  grow  in  its  place  ;  but 
we  should  never  have  killed  the  wild  men  and  beasts 
as  we  did,  merely  to  show  our  superior  strength  and  for 
the  greed  of  killing.  It  is  only  about  four  hundred 
years  since  white  men  set  foot  on  this  soil,  and  yet  it 
seems  as  if  in  a  hundred  more  there  may  be  no  more 
real  two  or  four-footed  Americans  left." 

"  There  is  the  Deer  Mouse  again,"  whispered  Dodo, 
who  was  growing  tired,  pointing  to  the  hearth  corner. 
The  Mouse  gathered  up  some  crumbs  and  licked  up  a 
few  drops  of  water  that  had  fallen  on  the  stones,  then 
whisked  away  again. 

"  He  likes  supper  before  he  goes  to  bed.  Please  can 
we  roast  some  chestnuts,  Uncle  Roy?" 

Every  one  laughed  ;  no  more  reasons  why  were  asked, 
and  Explanation  Night  ended  merrily  to  the  sound  of 
chestnuts  snapping  vigorously  in  a  wire  corn-popper 
that  the  children  took  turns  in  shaking  over  the  hot 
coals. 


IX 


AN    INVITATION 


EFORE  the   excitement  of  moving 
into   camp   had    passed    away,    the 
children   had   another  treat   in  the 
shape    of    a  pair  of    holidays,  — 
Thanksgiving  and  the  day  after. 
For  as  the  day  of  Saint  Turkey 
always      comes      on      Thursday, 
teachers  and  children  agree  that 
it    is    not   worth    while    to    light 
school   fires    on   Friday,   only  to 
put  them  out  again  the  next  day. 

"  We  can  begin  the  stories  and  have  the  campfire 
every  night  and  shoot  every  afternoon.  It's  begun  to 
snow  already,  and  perhaps  Nez  will  come  down  and 
show  us  how  to  make  snow-shoes,"  chattered  Dodo, 
happily,  on  Monday,  as  she  looked  out  of  the  window 
in  the  wonder  room,  into  the  sky  at  dusk,  and  saw  the 
mysterious  flakes  of  the  first  snow-storm  fluttering 
down. 

"  Yes,  it  will  be  jolly  !  "  said  Nat,  looking  up  from 
the  book  he  was  studying :  "  but  I  want  to  do  some 
real  shooting,  too.  Hod  says  there's  lots  of  Rabbit 
signs  over  along  the  edge  of  the  wood  lot,  where  he 
was  hauling  logs  yesterday,  and  he  found  three  forms 

no 


AN  INVITATION  111 

beside.  Then  there  are  fresh  scratches  on  the  big 
chestnut  tree  up  by  the  hole  where  the  branch  broke, 
and  on  the  earth  by  the  little  rock  caves,  and  Rod  says 
that  means  Coons.  Do  you  think  that  Quick  would 
make  a  good  Coon  dog,  daddy  ?  He  has  an  everlasting 
bark,  and  that's  what  Rod  says  you  need  in  a  Coon 
dog." 

Nat  came  and  stood  with  his  back  to  the  fire,  spread- 
ing his  hands  betAveen  imaginary  coat  tails,  speaking 
so  earnestly  and  wearing  such  a  sportsman-like  air, 
that  his  father  and  uncle  laughed  outright. 

"  What  kind  of  forms  did  Rod  find  in  the  pasture, 
and  what  have  they  to  do  with  Rabbits  ?  "  asked  Dodo, 
looking  puzzled.  "  I  thought  forms  were  the  other 
names  for  the  moulds  Mammy  Bun  puts  the  jelly  and 
blanc-mange  in  to  harden,  so  when  it's  stiff  and  turns 
out  it  is  in  a  pretty  shape  instead  of  looking  mussy 
and  wobbling  all  over  the  dish." 

"■You  are  right  there,"  said  her  father ;  "but  a  Rab- 
bit's form  is  quite  different.  It  is  its  favorite  bed,  — 
the  hollow  made  by  it  when  it  lies  down  in  the  grass, 
or  among  leaves  and  litter,  —  which  after  being  used  a 
few  times  takes  the  form  of  the  Rabbit's  body." 

"Oh,  I  understand  that,"  said  Dodo,  eagerly;  "it's  a 
Rabbit  mould,  only  instead  of  the  mould  making  the 
Rabbit  the  way  it  does  with  jelly,  the  jelly  —  no,  I 
mean  the  Rabbit — makes  the  mould.  But  please,  uncle, 
don't  let  the  boys  shoot  the  little  nearby  animals  on 
the  farm,  because  I  want  to  make  friends  with  them, 
and  Rabbits  are  as  funny  and  cunning  as  kittens,  so  I'm 
sure  they  can't  do  any  harm." 

When  the  laughter  had  subsided,  Dr.  Roy  took  a 


112  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

letter  from  a  strange,  dirty  envelope  he  had  been  hold- 
ing in  his  hand,  and  spread  it  on  the  desk  before  him. 

"Here  is  something  that  will  interest  yon,  Nat,  and 
provide  you  with  real  shooting  without  disturbing 
Dodo's  'home  Rabbits.'  In  fact,  that  sheet  of  paper 
contains  the  most  tempting  invitation  I've  had  for  a 
year.     Come  here  and  read  it  to  us,  Olive." 

Olive  looked  puzzled  at  first,  as,  sitting  on  the  arm 
of  her  father's  chair,  she  read  :  — 

friend  dr.  hunteh  :  toinette  thinks  to  Lave  a  party  for  three 
days  to  begin  on  thrsday  olaf  and  part  of  his  outfit  is  coining  over 
she  would  think  it  prowd  if  you  would  come  to  it  also  friend 
Jack  blake  and  his  boy  and  the  other  boy  with  the  one  leg  which 
will  find  coons  first  rait  also  fox  trails  and  rabbits  which  are  to 
many  as  well  as  skunks  she  will  make  the  best  cookin  of  the  french 
which  she  is  half  you  know  you  need  not  answer  only  come 

Nez-s  s  ij 

"  What  does  that  mean  ?"  asked  Olive,  after  she  had 
spelled  out  this  remarkable  letter,  which  had  neither 
commas,  periods,  nor  capitals,  pointing  to  three  marks 
like  little  zig-zags  of  lightning  after  his  name. 

"  Why,  that's  Nez'  blaze  !  "  said  Mr.  Blake,  looking 
at  the  letter  attentively.  "  Don't  you  remember,  Hoy, 
the  mark  he  put  upon  his  logs  so  that  he  would  know 
them  among  those  of  other  choppers,  and  the  sign  he 
cut  on  trees  when  we  hewed  a  path  so  that  we  should 
know  the  trail  for  our  own  ?  I  suppose  Nez  has  never 
written  such  a  long  letter  as  this  before,  and  he  adds 
his  blaze  marks  to  assure  us  that  he  wrote  it  himself 
and  means  all  he  says." 

"  I  call  that  a  tine  letter,"  said  Nat,  beaming  with 
satisfaction.      "  Three  days  in  the  woods,  hooray  !     It 


.4iV   INVITATION  113 

isn't  late,  may  I  run  clown  and  tell  Rap  ?  1  suppose, 
of  course,  we  will  go,"  lie  added  anxiously. 

"  There  is  nothing  about  girls  in  the  letter,"  said 
Dodo,  "and  it  will  be  a  dreadfully  unthankful  Thanks- 
giving Day  with  only  mother  and  Olive  and  me  at 
home,  and  Mammy  Bun  may  say  it  is  wasteful  to  kill 
Mr.  Gobble  only  for  us,  and  he  is  so  fat  I  don't  think 
he  will  live  till  Christmas.  You  will  all  be  so  tired 
when  you  get  home  Saturday,  and  proud  with  going 
hunting,  that  you  won't  care  to  cook  supper  and  tell 
stories  in  our  camp." 

Here  Dodo's  voice  broke  into  a  wail,  and  in  spite  of 
brave  blinking,  a  large  round  tear  perched  itself  on  her 
nose  in  a  position  where  it  commanded  attention. 

"  Oh,  Dodo,"  said  her  uncle,  taking  her  on  his  knee, 
"  it  is  a  very  poor  sportsman  that  cries  not  only  before 
he  is  hurt,  but  before  the  gun  that  might  possibly  hurt 
him  is  even  loaded.  Cheer  up,  did  you  ever  know  any 
one  at  the  farm  to  make  a  good  time  for  themselves  by 
hurting  somebody  else  ?  " 

"  No-oo,  but  I  shouldn't  want  to  be  piggy  and  keep 
you  all  at  home,  either,"  murmured  Dodo,  with  her 
face  hidden  under  her  uncle's  coat-collar. 

"  There  is  a  useful  word  in  our  language  that  is  a 
very  good  plaster  to  cure  the  ills  of  reasonable  people 
who  wish  to  do  different  things,  it  is  compromise.  Do 
you  know  what  that  means  ?  " 

"  No-oo,"  quavered  Dodo. 

"  Each  agree  and  do  a  part  of  what  they  want,"  said 
Olive. 

"Oh,  I  know  now,"  said  Nat;  "it's  what  Rod  calls 
'  split-the-difference.' " 


114  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"Exactly,  and  we  will  'split  the  difference'  by  staying 
at  home  Avith  the  ladies  on  Thursday  and  having  Mr. 
Gobble  for  dinner  and  our  story  in  the  evening.  Then 
Friday  we  will  start  for  Nez'  camp,  going  by  rail  to 
Chestnut  Ridge  Station,  and  driving  over  from  there, 
so  as  to  lose  as  little  time  as  possible  on  the  way." 

Dodo's  face  came  from  under  the  coat-collar,  and  her 
arms  tightened  around  Dr.  Roy's  neck  so  suddenly  that 
he  coughed. 

"  Wait  a  minute,  that  is  not  all.  I  think  we  must 
have  a  party  ourselves  before  long  and  invite  all  the 
camp  people  to  come  down  here.  What  do  you  say  to 
a  Christmas  party,  sister  Cherry,  with  a  tree  and  songs 
and  Santa  Clans  ?  Will  it  be  too  much  trouble  ?  No  ? 
Then  talk  it  over  with  Olive  and  Dodo  while  we  are 
away,  and  decide  what  you  want  to  do  and  how  to  do 
it,  and  you  may  put  your  hand  in  my  pocket  for  a  real 
Christmas  at  Camp  Saturday." 

"  My  pockets  have  something  in  them,  too,"  said  Mr. 
Blake. 

"  Our  bank  is  choking,"  chimed  in  Nat  and  Dodo. 


X 


MONARCHS   IN   EXILE 


EFORE  dusk,  on  Thanksgiving-  Day, 
dinner   was   over,  and  the   family 
had   all  gathered  in  Camp  Satur- 
day.     Mr.  Gobble,  with  his  chest- 
nut stuffing,  proved  so  tempt- 
ing that  two  small  people  even 
begged  for  a  third  piece,  and 
every  one  agreed  to  have  only 
a  light  supper  before  bedtime, 
and  tell  stories  first. 
"Is  Turkey  a  real  American,  or  did  he  come  over 
with  House  People  ?  "  asked  Dodo.     "  I  suppose  he  did, 
because  he's  a  farm  bird  and  very  cranky  to  raise,  Rod 
says." 

"  Turkey  is  not  only  a  true  American,  and  the 
emblem  of  Thanksgiving  Day,  but  our  native  wild 
Turkey  is  the  great-grandfather  of  all  the  other  Tur- 
keys that  live  everywhere  on  farms." 

The  camp  was  quite  in  order  now,  for  Dr.  Roy  had 
sent  to  various  places  for  chests  of  odds  and  ends  that 
had  been  stored  away  and  almost  forgotten.  The 
board  floor  was  nearly  covered  by  the  furry  pelts  of 
various  beasts,  while  others  were  fastened  against  the 
walls,   where    some    fine    Deer's   heads    spread    their 

115 


116  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

pronged  and  forked  antlers,  and  seemed  to  wink  their 
glass  eyes  as  the  fire  flickered,  casting  startling 
shadows. 

"  Let's  make  mother  a  throne  by  the  fire,"  said  Nat, 
drawing  oat  the  settle. 

"  This  old  woolly  cow  skin  will  mostly  cover  it," 
said  Dodo,  tugging  at  a  bundle  that  lay  partly  un- 
folded in  the  corner. 

"  Gently,  gently,"  called  the  Doctor,  coming  to  her 
aid.  "  That  '  old  cow  skin  '  is  something  that  belongs 
to  the  past  which  I  could  hardly  replace.  It  once 
belonged  to  a  Buffalo  —  that  one  whose  head  is  over 
the  window.  Nat,  take  the  other  corner  and  we  will 
spread  the  skin  carefully." 

"It's  a  pretty  big  skin  —  bigger  than  any  of  the 
beasts  we  saw  at  the  circus  ;  but  I  didn't  know  that 
Buffaloes  were  rare,"  said  Nat.  "  I  thought  the  wild 
West  was  full  of  them,  and  all  the  Indians  did  when 
they  wanted  meat  or  a  coat  was  to  go  out  and  kill 
one." 

"  So  they  did  once,  my  boy,  and  not  so  very  long 
ago." 

"There  is  a  picture  of  some  in  your  animal  port- 
folio," said  Dodo,  "  and  in  it  there  are  lots  and  lots  of 
Buffaloes  all  over  everywhere,  more  than  all  the  cows 
in  the  pasture  down  at  the  milk  farm." 

"  What  shall  you  tell  us  about  to-night,  father  ? " 
asked  Olive,  coming  in,  followed  by  the  dogs.  "  How 
will  you  manage  about  the  stories  ;  take  the  animals  by 
families  as  you  did  the  birds  ?  " 

"  No,  I  have  another  plan.  In  this  portfolio  are 
portraits    of    our    most    famous    American    Mammals, 


HON AliCHS   IN  EXILE  117 

from  'big  game,'  as  it  is  called,  down  to  the  smallest 
nuisance  animal.  You  shall  all  take  turns  in  choos- 
ing the  picture  you  like,  and  then  I  will  tell  you  its 
story,  or,  if  I  do  not  know  it  myself,  you  shall  hear  Nez, 
Uncle  Jack,  or  Olaf  for  a  change.  Then  when  each 
story  is  finished,  you  must  find  the  animal  on  the  ladder, 
and  see  to  what  family  and  guild  he  belongs.  Is  it  a 
bargain  ? 

"  Dodo  may  choose  to-night,  as  she  is  the  youngest. 
I  will  turn  the  pictures,  for  the  portfolio  is  heavy."  v 

"  Did  you  draw  all  these  pictures  ?  "  Dodo  asked,  as 
she  took  her  place  by  her  uncle,  hardly  knowing  what 
to  choose  from  among  so  many. 

"No,  indeed,  the  man  who  drew  these  knew  the  beast 
brotherhood  as  well  as  we  know  each  other.  In  fact, 
they  are  so  true  that  I  think  Heart  of  Nature  must  have 
stood  beside  him  and  touched  his  brush  and  pencil." 

"  There  is  a  Gray  Squirrel  in  here,"  chattered  Dodo, 
"  that  looks  so  funny  and  real,  just  like  the  one  in  our 
hickory,  that  I  knew  it  right  away.  All  these  animals 
seem  to  be  doing  something,  too,  not  sitting  round 
looking  uncomfortable,  waiting  to  have  their  pictures 
taken  like  some  beasts  in  my  reader.  I  can't  choose, 
uncle  ;  I  like  them  all.  Here  are  three  cats'  heads 
with  no  bodies  ;  they  must  have  as  nice  a  story  as  the 
Cheshire  Cat.  I  think  I'll  shut  my  eyes  and  take  the 
first  I  touch,"  she  said  finally,  and  her  choice  fell  on 
the  Buffalo,  or  Bison  as  the  Wise  Men  call  it. 

"  You  could  not  have  chosen  better,  for  from  this 
story  you  will  learn  why  I  value  that  '  old  cow  skin ' 
so  much.  I  think,  if  we  name  our  stories,  they  will 
seem  more  interestinQ'.     Let  us  call  this  one  '  Monarchs 


118  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

iii  Exile,' "  said  the  Doctor,  as  he  fastened  the  picture 
with  thumb  pins  beside  the  map  on  the  wall,  "  and  I 
will  tell  you  why  the  Buffalo  was  a  king,  where  his 
kingdom  was,  and  how  he  comes  now  to  be  exiled." 

"My  !  "  said  Dodo,  studying  the  picture,  "he  looks 
like  a  great,  wild,  hump-backed  bull  gone  to  fur. 
Doesn't  the  Buffalo  belong  to  the  cow  family  ?  " 

Nat  laughed,  but  the  Doctor  said:  '•'Both  the  im- 
ported race  of  cows  and  this  wild  American  belong  to 
the  Bovidee,  which  we  may  call  the  meat  family  for 
short,  because  all  the  members  of  it  are  good  for  food. 
The  members  of  this  meat  family  have  their  toes 
arranged  in  cloven  hoofs,  and  wear  pairs  of  hollow 
horns  which,  when  once  grown,  last  for  life.  They  all 
chew  the  cud  and  are  therefore  vegetable  eaters.  You 
can  easily  remember  that  all  of  the  meat  family  belong- 
to  the  guild  of  Hoofed,  Hollow-horned  Cud-chewers." 

"  Are  not  the  horns  of  all  animals  hollow,  and  don't 
they  last  for  life,  unless  something  breaks  them  ? " 
asked  Rap. 

"  No,  the  meat  family  have  hollow,  curving,  rather 
smooth  horns,  that  begin  to  sprout  when  the  animal  is 
a  few  months  old,  and  continue  growing  until  the 
wearer  is  fully  grown.  In  the  Deer  family  of  cud- 
chewers  these  horns,  or  antlers  as  they  are  then  called, 
are  of  solid  bone,  pronged,  fined,  or  spreading.  They 
are  shed  and  grown  anew  every  year,  and  the  reason  for 
this  is  very  interesting  —  horns,  prongs,  and  antlers 
being  a  whole  story  by  itself.  Now  let  me  return  to 
our  Buffalo.  First  look  at  the  head  and  hide,  then  at 
the  complete  animal  in  the  picture.  Can  }-ou  imagine 
a  more  powerful  or  fierce  beast  ?  " 


<■  f  ^ 


Mr 


The  Bison. 


MONABCIIS  IN  EXILE  119 

"  No,"  said  Nat  and  Dodo,  promptly ;  but  Rap  hesi- 
tated a  little  and  answered  shyly  :  — 

"  He  must  be  very  big  and  strong,  yet  somehow  he 
looks  rather  stupid,  too,  as  if  he  wasn't  thinking  about 
much  of  anything.  But  then,"  he  added,  as  if  fearing 
to  be  unjust,  "perhaps  it  is  the  glass  eyes  that  make 
the  head  look  so  sleepy." 

"  You  are  perfectly  right,  Rap  ;  stupidity  was  the 
chief  fault,  or  rather  misfortune,  of  the  Buffalo.  The 
foremost  Buffalo  in  the  picture  is  an  old  male  ;  these 
males  were  often  six  feet  high  at  the  shoulder,  and 
measured  ten  feet  from  the  tip  of  the  nose  to  the  root 
of  the  tail,  eight  feet  around  the  body  just  behind  the 
fore  legs,  and  weighed  from  fifteen  to  seventeen  hundred 
pounds.  Those  we  saw  at  the  circus  were  born  in 
captivity,  and  were  much  smaller.  The  ponderous 
head  is  shaggy,  with  a  tufted  crown  between  the  curved 
horns  that  match  the  hoofs  in  blackness.  The  nose 
and  lips  are  bare,  but  the  chin  is  bearded.  The  shoul- 
ders and  fore  legs  down  to  the  knees  are  covered,  as 
you  see,  with  thick  woolly  hair,  while  the  hair  on  the 
back  parts  of  the  body  is  shorter  and  more  wavy. 
The  hair  varies  in  color  and  length  on  the  different 
parts  of  the  animal,  ranging  from  yellowish  brown  to 
nearly  black,  and  being  from  four  to  ten  inches  in 
length.  Under  the  long  hair  and  wool  is  a  thick  under- 
fur,  which  grows  on  the  approach  of  cold  weather  and 
is  shed,  or  moulted,  again  before  summer." 

"  Oh,  what  a  mess  the  poor  thing  must  get  into  when 
he  moults,"  said  Dodo,  stroking  the  Buffalo  robe. 
"  He  has  nobody  to  comb  him,  and  I  should  think  he 
would  all  stick  together   and  tangle.     How  does   he 


120  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

manage,  uncle  ?  Does  he  scrape  through  the  bushes 
the  way  a  snake  does  to  pull  off  its  old  skin  ?  " 

"  You  have  judged  rightly  ;  the  Buffalo  has  a  hard 
time  with  his  coat,  and  only  looks  really  respectable 
a  very  small  part  of  the  year.  During  four  months  he 
is  well  dressed,  for  the  other  eight  he  appears  in 
various  stages  of  rags  and  tatters.  In  October  he  is 
quite  a  gentleman,  wearing  a  new  suit  of  beautifully 
shaded  brown  and  buff  which  he  manages  to  keep  fresh 
and  bright  until  after  Christmas.  Soon  after  this  the 
effect  of  wear  and  tear,  storm  and  snow,  appear  in  a 
general  fading.  You  can  easily  see,  however,  that  the 
Buffalo  with  his  winter  coat,  added  to  a  thick  hide, 
could  defy  the  weather  even  of  the  most  open,  wind- 
swept country,  and  must  be  one  of  the  hardiest  of  our 
fourfoots. 

"  All  this  tells  you  how  the  animal  looked.  Next 
you  must  know  why  he  was  king  of  American  four- 
foots  :  it  was  because  of  his  usefulness  to  the  two- 
footed  Americans  —  the  Indians  who  lived  with  him 
in  wood,  plain,  and  prairie,  but  chiefly  in  the  open 
plains.  In  the  long  ago  every  part  of  the  Buffalo  was 
of  service  to  the  wild  people  who  had  never  seen 
a  white  face,  a  horse,  or  a  gun.  In  fact,  it  is  strange 
that  this  shaggy  brown  monster  of  the  plain  was  not 
worshipped  by  the  savages  as  a  god ;  for  during  the 
last  three  hundred  years  of  their  liberty  it  was  the 
Buffalo  chiefly  that  made  it  possible  for  them  to  live. 
As  long  as  the  Indian  had  the  Buffalo  to  supply  his 
needs,  he  was  independent  and  unconquerable. 

"  In  the  far  back  time,  of  which  there  is  no  written 
history,  man  had  no  other  instruments  of  killing  than 


M ON ARCIIS  IN   EXILE  121 

did  the  beast  brotherhood,  not  even  the  stone  axe, 
or  bow  and  arrow,  being  closely  akin  to  the  wild 
beasts  themselves,  who  were  armed  only  with  teeth, 
claws,  and  cunning.  Man  must  have  lived  origi- 
nally on  fruits  or  animals  weaker  and  less  sure-footed 
than  himself.  In  this  struggle  for  a  living  the  mind 
in  man  began  to  develop,  and  he  shaped  a  club  or  a 
stone  axe,  made  traps  and  then  caught  animals  that 
gave  him  material  for  better  weapons.  What  animal 
could  give  him  more  than  the  Buffalo  ? 

'■The  hairy  skin  made  warm  robes  and  other  gar- 
ments, the  hairless  hides  furnished  tent  coverings,  bags 
for  carrying  food,  and,  later,  when  horses  came,  saddles, 
also  boats,  shields,  rawhide  ropes,  etc.  The  sinews 
made  the  thread  to  sew  the  robes,  the  lattice  for 
snow-shoes  and  strings  for  bows ;  from  the  bones 
were  fashioned  many  articles  of  use  and  ornament ;  the 
hoofs  and  horns  gave  drinking  cups  and  spoons,  as  well 
as  the  glue  with  which  the  Indian  fastened  his  stone 
arrow-heads  to  their  wooden  shafts.  Even  the  drop- 
pings of  the  Buffalo,  when  dried,  were  precious  for  fuel. 
These  parts  of  the  Buffalo  would  alone  have  made  him 
valuable  ;  but  we  have  not  mentioned  the  meat,  the 
rich,  nourishing,  wild  beef  of  North  America.  Think 
of  the  hundreds  of  pounds  of  food  one  beast  would 
yield  ! " 

"  Wasn't  it  rather  tough  meat?"  asked  Nat.  "That 
old  fellow  there  on  the  wall  looks  as  if  lie  would  have 
needed  as  much  chewing  as  the  gum  Rod  gave  me  from 
the  old  cherry  tree." 

"The  meat  of  an  old  Buffalo  bull  certainly  was 
tough,  as  the  meat  of  any  other  old  animal  is  likely  to 


122  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

be  ;  but  the  beef  of  the  three-year-old,  or  the  cows,  is 
as  delicious  as  our  best  roast  beef. 

"  Only  a  part  of  the  meat  was  eaten  fresh,  the  rest 
was  dried  in  various  ways  and  kept  for  further  use  ;  for 
the  whole  thought  of  the  savage  was  given  to  self-pres- 
ervation from  two  ghosts  that  crossed  his  path  at  every 
step, — his  human  enemies  and  starvation.  Often  the 
last  was  the  more  cruel  of  the  two.  So  the  Buffalo 
tongues  were  smoked  and  dried,  the  marrow  from  the 
bones  packed  away  in  skins,  while  all  the  titbits  were 
pounded  fine,  mixed  with  melted  fat,  and  sometimes 
berries  also,  to  make  a  sort  of  hash  more  nearly  like 
sausage-meat  than  anything  else,  which  was  called  pem- 
mican.  When  we  think  of  the  Buffalo,  Ave  must  think 
of  the  Indian  also,  and  if  the  Indian  did  much  at  last 
to  send  this  beast  brother  into  exile,  he  also  has  shared 
it  with  him." 

"  Have  Indians  and  Buffaloes  always  lived  in  North 
America,"  asked  Olive,  "  and  if  they  did  not,  where  did 
they  come  from  ?  " 

"  Always  is  a  long  time,  for  Avhen  the  earth  was  very 
young  there  were  no  people  anywhere.  I  suppose  you 
mean  were  the  Indians  the  first  people  known  to  live 
here.  Yes,  and  they  may  have  been  the  very  first  peo- 
ple to  live  on  this  soil  —  a  race  by  themselves.  At  any 
rate  one  of  the  first  European  discoverers  to  set  foot  on 
the  North  American  continent  found  the  Indian  here 
and  also  the  Buffalo.  Strangely-  enough  the  first  Buf- 
falo described  did  not  appear  as  a  king  of  the  plains, 
but  a  captive  in  a  Menagerie. 

"  It  was  nearly  four  hundred  years  ago,  when  Monte- 
zuma II  was  Emperor  of  Aztec  Mexico,  that  a  Men- 


MONABCIIS  IN  EXILE  123 

agerie  stood  in  the  square  of  the  Capitol.  Among  the 
other  beasts  in  it  was  one  called  by  an  early  writer  a 
'  Mexican  Bull,  resembling  many  animals  combined  in 
one,  having  a  humped  back  like  a  Camel,  a  Lion's  mane, 
horns  like  a  Bull,  a  long  tail,  and  cloven  hoofs,'  —  this 
beast  was  the  American  Buffalo. 

"  How  he  came  to  be  there  no  one  knows,  for  they 
were  not  afterward  found  to  range  so  far  south,  but  he 
was  probably  captured  by  some  of  the  Mexicans  on 
their  northward  expeditions. 

"  Between  this  first  Buffalo  of  the  Mexican  Men- 
agerie and  the  last  (which  one  of  you  young  people 
may  live  to  see)  stretches  the  history  of  this  tribe  that 
exceeded  in  numbers  any  other  of  the  greater  beasts  of 
the  earth.  It  reads  like  some  wild  legend  or  impossi- 
ble fairy  tale,  yet  it  is  all  true  and  took  place  in  the 
western  half  of  our  own  country,  and  when  the  west 
wind  blows  fiercely  around  the  farm,  it  has  often  swept 
over  the  very  plains  that  were  the  Buffalo's  kingdom. 
Whole  books  have  been  written,  and  yet  have  not  told 
half  the  tale,  which  is  in  a  way  the  history  of  the  kill- 
ing of  all  the  great  American  fourfoots  as  well. 

"  The  Buffalo's  history  is  in  three  acts  and  many 
scenes.  First,  the  golden  days  of  peace  and  plenty, 
the  rightful  killing  for  food,  with  laborious  hunting,  a 
fair  fight  between  man  and  beast.  '  Take  what  ye  need 
to  eat,'  said  Heart  of  Nature  to  man  and  beast  alike. 

"  Then  the  white  and  red  men  joined  in  the  pursuit ; 
fleet  horses  were  used  in  the  chase  instead  of  men's  feet, 
bullets  killing  from  afar  replaced  the  arrows  shot  at  close 
range.  Not  merely  meat  to  eat  or  hides  for  covering, 
or  reasonable  trade,  but  waste  and  butchery.     Skins 


124  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

traded  for  whiskey,  —  the  skins  too  of  cows  and  their 
young. 

"  Last  of  all  came  the  railroads,  bringing  the  white 
hunter  with  his  deadly  aim  into  the  last  retreat  of  the 
herds.  These  three  acts  will  show  you  the  living,  the 
hunting,  and  the  butchering  of  the  Buffalo. 

"  At  first  the  Buffaloes  ranged  over  all  parts  of  North 
America  where  they  could  find  suitable  pasture.  See, 
I  have  made  lines  on  the  map  to  show  you  how  it  was 
found  in  two-thirds  of  what  are  now  the  United  States, 
living  in  western  prairies,  forest-park  land,  the  plains, 
and  far  up  on  mountain  sides,  being  found  in  the  North- 
west up  to  the  land  of  snow.  Buffaloes,  as  you  know, 
are  cud-chewers  and,  of  course,  grass-eaters,  though 
when  pushed  to  it  they  will  eat  sage  brush,  and  for  this 
reason  they  were  obliged  to  move  about  during  the 
year  more  than  any  other  fourfoots,  except  one  kind 
of  deer  ;  those  in  the  south  going  north  as  summer 
dried  the  grass,  and  the  northerly  herds  leaving  their 
summer  pasture  before  heavy  snow  falls.  Buffaloes 
usually  moved  several  hundred  miles  south  as  winter 
came  on,  and  in  these  annual  migrations  great  numbers 
lost  their  lives  ;  for  often  the  vast  herds  would  make 
this  journey  on  the  full  run,  —  stampeding,  it  is  called. 
Pushing  blindly  along,  masses  of  them  fell  into  quick- 
sand and  over  cliffs,  or  broke  through  river  and  lake 
ice." 

"  What  made  them  stampede  ?  Was  not  that  very 
stupid  of  them  ?  "  said  Nat. 

"  Yes,  but  like  most  animals  who  live  in  flocks  or 
herds,  and  people  who  live  in  thick  communities,  they 
were  both  curious  and  stupid  —  what  one  did  they  all 


MON AliCIIS   IN   EXILE  125 

did.  You  know  if  Nanny  Baa  starts  to  run  all  the 
other  sheep  follow  her,  —  where,  it  does  not  matter 
to  them." 

"  Yes,  and  I've  noticed  that  they  all  try  to  get 
through  the  same  hole  in  the  wall,  or  pack  tight  into 
some  little  corner." 

"  The  grass  was  best  in  the  valleys  along  the  water- 
courses, and  you  would  expect  the  Buffaloes  to  stay  in 
such  places ;  but  they  were  stupid  even  in  their  search 
for  food,  and  wandered  out  on  the  dry  plains  where  the 
grass  that  bore  their  name  was  turned  to  standing  hay 
by  drought  and  heat. 

"The  Buffalo  had  no  private  life;  his  time  was 
spent  in  a  crowd  from  the  time  in  spring,  when  as  an 
awkward  calf  he  found  it  difficult  to  keep  up  with  the 
herd  in  its  march,  until  his  life  was  ended  either  by 
rushing  with  the  stampeding  herd  into  an  engulfing  bog, 
or,  if  straggling  from  the  herd,  wounded  or  feeble  he 
fell  a  victim  to  the  grim  gray  Wolves  who  were  as  the 
Buffaloes'  shadows,  following  them  ceaselessly. 

"The  fact  that  the  Buffaloes  grazed  far  and  wide 
made  their  daily  march  to  the  watercourses  a  ceremony 
of  great  importance,  and  their  kingdom  was  furrowed 
deeply  by  these  trails  worn  by  innumerable  feet  as 
they  all  followed  their  leader  to  the  chosen  watering- 
place." 

"  How  did  they  choose  their  leader  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  Why,  the  strongest  bull,  of  course,"  said  Nat. 

"  No,  on  the  contrary,  the  leader  whom  they  trusted 
was  often  some  wise  old  cow.  When  she  gave  the 
signal,  the  feeding  stopped,  off  they  all  marched,  per- 
haps   miles    across    country   until    water   was   reached, 


126  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

always,  in  spite  of  their  stupidity,  choosing  the  safest 
and  most  direct  route  to  the  desired  spot." 

"How  did  people  find  that  out,  by  watching  them?" 
asked  Rap. 

"  Partly,  but  their  paths  or  trails  were  cut  so  deep, 
sometimes  two  feet,  in  the  clayey  ground,  that  they 
remain  to  this  day.  You  see  in  the  picture  the  Buf- 
faloes are  coming  down  a  trail,  and  with  them  is 
another  king  of  the  plains,  —  the  sand-colored  sluggish 
prairie  Rattlesnake.  Big  as  the  Buffalo  is,  he  does 
not  care  to  pull  the  leaves  from  a  tuft  of  curly  grass  if 
he  sees  one  of  these  snakes  near  it.  Nature  evidently 
whispers  to  the  Buffalo  very  early  in  life  :  '  The  little 
horny  knobs  on  your  head  will  surely  grow,  a  lap  for 
each  year  :  at  three  you  will  carry  sharp  spikes  ;  at  ten 
polished  black  curved  horns  ;  at  twenty,  if  you  live  so 
long,  gnarled,  furrowed  stubs,  —  yet  do  not  be  proud, 
remember  that  gray  Rattlesnake  coiled  in  the  dust 
carries  in  his  mouth  two  fangs  as  deadly  as  your  fiercest 
charge.  Be  friends ;  do  not  dispute,  but  share  your 
kingdom  with  him.'  So  they  lived  together,  but  the 
snake  has  outlasted  his  brother  king." 

"  I  shouldn't  think  then  that  plains  would  be  nice 
places  to  stay,"  said  Dodo. 

"  They  are  not,"  said  Olive,  decidedly. 

"  You  are  thinking  of  my  story  about  the  time  I  was 
belated,  twenty  years  ago,  and  had  to  camp  on  the 
ground  instead  of  coming  on  to  your  mother  at  the 
ranch,"  said  the  Doctor,  laughing. 

"  Did  snakes  chase  you  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  No,  but  the  spot  where  we  were  obliged  to  make 
camp  was  full  of  their  holes,  and  our  horses  knew  it 


MONARCH S  IN   EXILE  127 

and  were  uneasy;  yet  they  were  utterly  spent,  so  we  had 
no  choice  but  to  rest  and  picket  them.  We  stopped  up 
the  snake  holes  with  hot  ashes  from  our  fire,  which  by 
the  way  was  made  of  Buffalo  chips  or  droppings,  spread 
a  hair  rope  or  lariat  in  a  circle  inside,  while  we  put  our- 
selves on  rather  than  in  our  blankets." 

"  Why  did  you  make  a  circle  with  the  rope?  "  asked 
Rap. 

"  Because  one  of  our  party,  a  scout,  said  a  Rattle- 
snake would  never  cross  a  hair  rope,  so  we  put  it  there 
to  please  the  man." 

"  Did  they  cross  it?  "  asked  all  the  children  together. 

"  No,  we  started  in  the  morning  on  our  search  for 
water  before  a  single  evil-eyecf  snake  had  wiggled  out, 
but  I  thanked  the  ashes,  not  the  magic  rope." 

"  Isn't  the  water  rather  warm  and  stale  in  these 
water  holes?  It  usually  is  in  such  places  here,"  said 
Rap,  looking  at  the  picture  again. 

"  Of  course  it  is  !  Dearie  me !  !  "  exclaimed  the 
Doctor.  "  You  youngsters  would  not  even  know  it  for 
water.  Wetness  is  the  only  thing  it  has  in  common 
with  the  poorest  puddle  on  the  farm.  Much  of  the 
water  of  prairie  and  Bad  Lands  is  a  cross  between 
green  whitewash  and  pea  soup.  Sometimes  the  lime,  of 
which  it  is  full,  shows  white  and  crusty  round  the  pool 
edges  as  early  ice  does  here.  But  to  return  to  our 
Buffalo  procession. 

"  If  it  was  a  warm  day  they  would  often  take  a  roll 
in  the  pools  after  drinking,  and  you  can  imagine  what 
a  spectacle  a  woolly  Buffalo  would  be  after  such  a  bath 
in  a  mud  puddle." 

"How  could  they  like  to  be  so  dirty?"  said  Olive, 


128  FOUIt-FOOTEI)   AMERICANS 

who,  in  spite  of  her  love  of  everything  wild,  was  as 
dainty  as  a  white  kid  glove. 

"  They  had  a  practical  reason  :  the  mud  dried  into  a 
crust  that  kept  the  insects  from  driving  them  wild. 
From  doing  this  frequently,  and  turning  round  and 
round  as  they  wallowed  and  splashed,  many  of  these 
pools  were  shaped  into  sort  of  deep,  round  bath  tubs, 
as  a  potter  shapes  a  clay  vessel  with  his  thumb.  In 
fact,  Buffaloes  were  so  fond  of  rolling  to  scratch  them- 
selves, that  they  also  rolled  head  first  in  earth  and  sand, 
as  well  as  water,  and  in  time  their  horns  came,  in  this 
way,  to  be  worn  and  stubby.  An  English  traveller, 
early  in  this  century,  wrote  that  in  Pennsylvania,  before 
the  Buffaloes  had  learned  to  fear  people,  a  man  built  a 
log  house  near  a  salt  spring  where  many  Buffaloes  came 
to  drink.  The  Buffaloes  evidently  thought  the  house 
would  make  a  delightful  place  to  rub  and  scratch,  for 
history  says  they  actually  rubbed  it  down  ! 

"  Before  they  learned  the  dread  of  House  People, 
and  the  necessity  of  keeping  constantly  on  the  watch, 
the  Buffalo's  life  was  much  like  that  of  the  great 
herds  of  domestic  cattle  that  now  range  the  same 
prairie  pastures.  The  calves  frisked  and  played,  the 
herds  had  their  times  of  rest,  of  plenty  and  of  scarcity, 
though  the  Buffalo  was  a  difficult  animal  to  starve, 
and  faced  out  blizzards  before  which  the  domestic 
cattle  would  turn  tail  and  perish.  This  was  one 
great  reason  why  he  should  have  been  protected, 
and  this  magnificent  monarch  kept  in  his  kingdom 
and  developed  to  suit  present  need.  The  Buffalo 
was  able  to  withstand  all  the  natural  dangers,  of  cold, 
hunger,  and  prowling  Wolves,  to  which  he  was  exposed, 


MONARCHS  IN   EXILE  129 

and  still  increase  and  multiply*  They  made  good 
fathers,  too,  taking  the  young  calves  under  their  pro- 
tection, sometimes  hustling  them  along  through  the 
Wolf  packs  with  horns  lowered  and  tails  raised,  keep- 
ing the  calves  well  inside  the  flying  wedge.  Their  vi- 
tality was  so  great  that,  if  in  falling  over  a  precipice 
after  some  foolish  run,  a  leg  was  broken,  its  owner  was 
quite  able  to  go  about  on  the  other  three  until  it  knit 
again.  This  is  the  first  scene, — the  golden  days  of 
the  Buffaloes,  —  when  they  swarmed  b}^  hundreds  of 
thousands  like  mosquitoes  over  a  marsh.  These  were 
the  days  when  the  red  men  had  no  weapons  sufficient 
to  kill  them. 

"  Listen  to  what  came  upon  the  Buffalo  in  the  second 
scene,  in  the  days  of  fair  hunting,  this  time  beginning 
we  do  not  know  when  and  lasting  until  threescore 
years  ago." 

"  How  many  is  a  score,  more  than  a  dozen  ?  "  inter- 
rupted Dodo. 

"A  score  is  twenty." 

"  Are  there  two  kinds  of  scores  ? "  persisted  Dodo, 
"  for  you  know,  Uncle  Roy,  a  baker's  dozen  is  thirteen, 
and  a  dozen  postage  stamps  is  twelve,  and  down  at  the 
store  they  sell  sticks  of  candy  by  postage-stamp  meas- 
ure." 

"  A  score  is  no  more  nor  less  than  twenty,"  laughed 
the  Doctor  ;  "but  do  not  lead  me  away  from  our  second 
scene.  When  the  Indian  had  no  weapons,  he  could 
slay  only  small  game,  and  even  when  he  had  only  a  club 
and  stone  axe  to  help  him  the  killing  of  the  thick- 
skinned,  wool-clad  Buffalo  must  have  been  a  difficult 
task.     Do  the  best  he  could,  the  red  man  had  to  work 


130  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

desperately  hard  for  every  pound  of  flesh  or  hide  he 
captured. 

"  Then  the  mind  of  man  began  to  develop  and  aid 
him.  The  Indian,  knowing  the  Buffalo's  habit  of 
stampeding  from  fright,  laid  stones,  sticks,  and  brush  on 
either  side  of  some  open  space  to  make  a  sort  of  drive- 
way, wide  apart  at  first,  but  gradually  narrowing  until 
it  ended  either  in  a  sort  of  pen  or  at  the  edge  of  a  preci- 
pice. 

"  After  a  herd  was  located,  and  this  in  itself  was 
not  always  easy,  a  disturbance  was  made  to  start  it  run- 
ning in  the  right  direction.  Perhaps  a  man  went  out 
and  waved  his  arms,  retreating  down  the  driveway  as 
the  first  of  the  herd  came  near  to  look  at  him.  The 
curious  animal  would  quicken  his  pace,  and  as  soon  as 
he  was  fairly  started  the  Indian  slipped  behind  the  bar- 
ricade and  joined  with  his  comrades  in  shouting  to 
frighten  the  herd  that  were  now  following  their  leader 
at  full  gallop. 

"  On  the  mad  throng  rushed,  crowding  and  trampling 
each  other  as  the  track  narrowed,  until,  when  they 
arrived  in  the  pen,  they  were  giving  each  other  mortal 
wounds,  the  calves  tossed  on  the  horns  of  the  old  bulls 
and  the  weaker  trampled  to  death.  Then,  amid  great 
personal  danger,  the  Indians  rushed  in  and  killed  those 
not  already  wounded,  with  stone  axes,  or  in  later  days 
shot  them  with  their  flint  arrows.  You  can  see  that  it 
must  have  taken  a  strong  arm  to  send  a  clumsy  stone 
arrow  through  the  thick  Buffalo  hide.  If  the  animals 
were  driven  over  a  cliff  and  fell  crippled  at  the  bottom, 
the  killing  took  place  there  in  the  same  manner  as  in 
the  pen.    After  the  slaughter,  the  men  discussed  various 


MONABCHS  IN  EXILE  131 

scenes  of  the  affair  as  if  it  had  been  a  battle  between 
tribes,  and  the  women  came  in,  skinned  the  animals, 
cut  up  the  meat,  packed  it  on  their  wheel-less  dog-carts, 
and  took  it  to  camp." 

"  How  can  there  possibly  be  a  cart  without  wheels  ? 
It  would  only  be  a  box  that  would  bump  and  spill," 
said  Dodo,  who  had  kept  quiet  an  unusually  long  time 
for  her. 

"  This  Indian  cart,  as  wheel-less  as  the  Eskimo 
sledge,  is  called  a  travois,  and  is  still  in  use  among  the 
scattered  tribes,  except  that  now  it  is  dragged  by 
horses.      Can  you  imagine  how  it  was  made  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  know  what  it  is  ;  we  saw  it  at  the  Wild 
West  Show  !  Don't  you  remember  ?  "  shouted  Nat. 
"  The  thing  like  a  pair  of  cross-legged  shafts  fastened 
to  the  horse's  back,  with  the  big  ends  trailing  on  the 
ground,  and  braces  across  right  behind  the  horse's 
back  knees,  to  keep  it  together  and  make  a  place  to 
hold   things  !  " 

"  Yes,  that  was  a  travois,  and  it  is  possible  to  drag 
it  over  ground  that  would  quickly  break  cart  wheels. 
Some  time  after,  when  the  civilized  races  or  House 
People  came  to  America  and  settled  along  the  coasts, 
the  horse  found  its  way  among  the  Indians.  He  came 
with  the  Spanish  through  Mexico  in  the  South,  and 
from  the  Canadian  French  in  the  North.  Soon  an 
Indian's  wealth  began  to  be  measured  by  horses,  as 
we  measure  ours  by  dollars.  Indians  mounted  on 
half-breed  horses  followed  the  Buffalo  over  the  plains, 
with  greater  success,  for,  as  the  old  range  of  these 
animals  in  the  East  and  South  was  being  peopled 
and  cultivated,  the  Buffalo  crowded  westward,  as  the 


132  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

i.- 
Indians    themselves   were    soon   to    be    crowded    from 
their  hunting-grounds.     This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
end,  though  it  took  many  years  yet  to  drive  the  mon- 
arch from  his  kingdom. 

"Act  third  came,  passed  rapidly  and  with  it  the 
Buffalo.  Firearms,  from  musket  to  pistol,  were  plen- 
tiful, and  then  followed  the  deadly,  long-range  rifle. 
Stupid  greed  fell  upon  the  Indian  and  white  settler 
alike.  No  one  listened  to  the  warning  cry,  '  Take 
what  ye  need  to  eat.'  It  was  not  only  flesh  for  food 
and  hides  for  covering,  but  hides  for  sale,  and  cow 
hides  at  that,  with  no  respect  of  season.  The  Indian 
found  that  much  deadly  fire-water  could  be  bought  for 
Buffalo  skins,  and  also  that  the  hides  of  the  females 
and  calves  were  the  softest  and  most  valuable. 

"  So  then  the  massacre  began ;  for  it  was  outright 
murder  to  kill  the  females  and  young.  Whites  and 
Indians  went  out  to  kill,  as  an  army  prepared  to  ma- 
noeuvre, surprise,  trap,  and  give  no  quarter.  The  Buf- 
faloes were  chased  by  men  on  horseback,  who  shot  with 
pistols,  as  more  easily  used  with  one  hand,  and  were 
also  shot  at  from  ambush  with  the  long-range  rifle,  so 
that  the  poor  bewildered  things,  often  seeing  no  enemy, 
did  not  know  in  what  direction  to  escape,  and  huddled 
together  helpless  victims.  Still  they  held  their  own 
and  increased  until  the  last  scene  of  all  took  place  ;  and 
it  seems  to  me  that  it  was  only  yesterday. 

"  A  railroad  stretched  its  iron  arm  across  the  coun- 
try,—  it  was  the  Union  Pacific.  Have  you  ever  seen 
the  ants  rush  out  of  a  great  hill  that  has  been  dis- 
turbed ?     Could  you   count  them  ?  " 

"Oh,"   said  Rap,   "I've  seen  them  often,  and  you 


MONAECHS  IN  EXILE  133 

could  no  more  count  tliem  than  you  could  drops  of 
water  in  a  hurry." 

"  Well,  so  it  Avas  with  the  Buffaloes  ;  there  were 
never  any  large  fourfoots  on  earth  to  equal  them  in 
numbers,  and  even  in  my  day  we  have  true  records  of 
a  single  herd  of  no  less  than  4,000,000  head.  A  friend 
of  mine  once,  riding  on  a  train,  passed  for  more  than 
one  hundred  miles  through  a  single  herd.  It  was  dan- 
gerous, I  can  tell  you,  for  the  trains,  and  they  often 
had  to  stop  to  let  the  Buffaloes  pass  by.  At  this  time 
the  Buffaloes  were  then  in  two  great  herds,  the  north- 
ern and  the  southern.  Then  these  began  to  melt  away 
as  great  snowballs  do  in  the  sun.  Railroads  meant  an 
easy  way  to  reach  the  Buffaloes,  an  easy  way  to  trans- 
port the  skins  ;  for  it  was  the  skin  more  than  the 
meat  that  was  desired.  The  engine  whistle  sounded 
the  exile  of  this  monarch,  and  for  ten  years  his  kingdom, 
shrinking  and  shifting,  was  a  battlefield  strewn  with 
skinned  carcasses.  Next,  the  horns  were  gathered,  and 
finally  the  bleached  bones  themselves  were  carried 
away  to  be  ground  into  fertilizer,  and  thus  make  the 
obliteration  complete. 

"  During  a  few  years  more  there  were  stragglers  here 
and  there,  and,  in  1890,  when  I  was  going  Avestward 
from  the  Black  Hills  in  Wyoming,  I  shot  the  beast 
whose  head  and  skin  Ave  have  here  iioav.  I  said,  'I 
will  take  this  eastAvard  when  I  have  a  home  again,  that 
my  grandchildren  may  believe  that  such  beasts  lived, 
and  that  their  grandfather  kneAV  them  on  their  native 
plains,  for  by  that  time  this  king  Avill  be  in  exile.'  It 
has  all  happened  sooner  than  I  thought. 

"  Noav  a  few,  a  mere  handful,  twenty-four  perhaps  in 


134  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

all,  live  wild  in  the  Yellowstone  Park.  A  hundred 
more  are  scattered  here  and  there  in  kind  captivity, 
where  they  may  live  for  some  time,  but  lose  their  type 
and  spirits  like  the  captive  Indians.  Now  you  may 
travel  the  plains  from  New  Mexico  north  and  see  no 
other  trace  of  the  Buffalo  than  a  weather-beaten  skull, 
—  the  perch  for  a  burrowing  Owl,  or  the  retreat  of  the 
other  king,  the  Rattlesnake. 

"As  the  Buffalo  vanished,  the  Indian  as  a  freeman 
vanished  also  ;  his  wild  beef  is  gone  and  he  is  given 
rations  in  begrudged  charity.  Once  both  Buffalo  and 
Indian  might  have  been  developed  to  useful  citizens  ; 
now,  if  we  succeed  in  preserving  either  race,  it  will  be 
only  as  captives.  The  kingdom  of  each  is  destroyed, 
and  the  people  of  this  land  are  not  blameless." 

"  It's  a  very  sad  story,  and  I'm  afraid  the  left-over 
Buffaloes  won't  like  it  very  well  even  in  the  new  Zool- 
ogy Garden,"  said  Dodo,  attacking  the  word  bravely, 
but  missing  it.  "  Any  sort  of  land  with  a  fence 
around  it  must  seem  crampy  for  them.  I'm  very  glad, 
anyhow,  that  I  saw  those  at  the  circus." 

"I'm  sorry  for  the  Indians  and  the  Buffaloes  both," 
said  Rap,  solemnly,  after  a  long  pause  when  every  one 
sat  silently  looking  at  the  fire;  "but  I  s'pose  if  white 
people  wanted  the  land,  it  had  to  be  because  of  what  the 
first  selectman  calls  '  progress '  !  " 

The  elder  people  laughed  heartily  at  this,  and  Nat 
said,  "  I  don't  see  what  he  has  to  do  with  Indians  and 
Buffaloes ;  he's  old  Mr.  Hodder  down  by  the  bridge, 
and  he's  never  been  anywhere." 

"Perhaps  not,"  said  Olive,  "but  I  know  what  Rap 
means.      This  is  the  way  it   happened.      You    know 


MONARCHS  IN  EXILE  135 

Widow  Hull  that  has  the  little  house  beyond  East 
Village  by  the  tollgate  ?  " 

"  I  do,'1  said  Dodo.  "  She  makes  lovely  taffy  and 
jumbles  and  ginger  pop  !  " 

"  Well,  she  won't  any  more  ;  they  are  going  to  take 
away  the  tollgate  and  her  house,  to  make  the  road 
wider  to  run  trolley  cars  on.  Mrs.  Hull  has  to  move, 
and  she  feels  dreadfully,  and  says  she'll  starve.  I  heard 
her  talking  about  it  to  Mr.  Hodder. 

" '  The  town'll  give  yer  a  lot  and  move  yer  house 
across  lots  down  to  the  next  corner,'  said  he.  'Yer  can 
sell  yer  truck  there.' 

"  'But,'  said  Mrs.  Hull,  'the  trolley  cars  go  by  down- 
hill there  and  nobody'll  stop  to  buy.  They  all  had  to 
stop  at  the  tollgate  !  ' 

" '  I  know  that,  marm,'  said  he,  getting  cross,  '  but 
it's  progress ;  progress  always  hurts  somebody,  marm.'  " 

"  Won't  yer  please  hand  in  dis  yer  tray,  Massa 
Blake,"  said  Mammy  Bun's  cheery  voice  at  the  door. 
"  I  doan  like  walkin'  on  dem  skins  and  tings,  dey 
slipped  me  down  j^esterday,  dey  did ;  good  rag  carpet 
tacked  tight  am  fine  'nough  for  dis  ole  'oman.  Lan' 
sakes,  how  can  dey  take  pleasure  sittin'  in  dat  barn 
room,  like  dey  had  no  good  home  all  fixed  nice,"  she 
muttered,  as  the  door  closed  behind  her. 

The  tray  held  a  light  supper,  because  after  dinner  the 
children  said  they  could  not  possibly  eat  a  real  supper ; 
but  after  Dodo  and  Nat  had  made  three  trips  to  the 
kitchen  for  fresh  supplies  of  toast  and  biscuits,  they 
decided  that  it  was  never  safe  to  say  immediately  after 
dinner  that  you  would  not  be  hungry  for  tea. 


136  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Poor  old  Buffalo,"  said  Dodo,  sitting  on  the  settle 
by  her  mother  and  stroking  the  wavy  hair  of  the 
robe,  "  you  were  one  of  the  biggest  of  our  f ourf oots, 
and  now  all  that  is  left  of  you  is  a  skin  and  a  stuffed 
face.  Please,  Uncle  Roy,  don't  you  think  the  skin 
would  feel  more  at  home  over  there  on  the  wall  by  its 
head  than  in  being  sat  on  ?  " 

Amid  the  general  laugh  that  followed,  Nat  went  to 
the  window,  rubbed  the  frost  from  the  pane,  and  looked 
out. 

"  Oh,  daddy  !  Oh,  Uncle  Roy  !  "  he  cried,  "  the 
moon  is  out,  and  the  snow  looks  smooth  and  crisp  ! 
Could  anything  be  jollier  for  to-morrow  ?  Rod  says 
we  can  learn  to  tell  animal  tracks  quick  as  anything  in 
new  snow.  Suppose  I  should  shoot  a  Rabbit  to  bring 
home  to  mother,  and  we  may  even  see  a  Coon  !  Onty 
I  think  it  will  be  much  harder  to  hit  a  real  running 
Rabbit  than  our  Deer  target,  even  with  the  little 
shot-o-un." 


XI 


RABBIT   TRACKS 


•W    dark    it  was    the    next   morning 

when  the  four  boys  gathered  in  the 

kitchen  for  their  breakfast  at  6.30. 

13 ut  then  you  know  what  is  late 

in    summer   is    early    in    winter : 

it  all  depends  upon  when  the 

sun  chooses  to  get  up  and  make 

day. 

You  may  also  wonder  who 
the  two  boys  were  beside  Nat 
and  Rap.  If  you  had  been  there,  you  would  have  seen 
that  they  were  the  Doctor  and  Mr.  Blake,  who  were 
in  as  high  spirits  as  the  children,  and  played  so  many 
pranks  that  Mammy  Bun  could  hardly  pour  out  the 
coffee  for  trying  to  hide  her  laughter. 

"  Where  is  the  little  shot-gun  ?  "  had  been  Nat's  first 
question  on  coming  down.      "  Is  it  loaded  ?  " 

"  I  think  not,  but  I  will  look  to  make  sure,"  said 
Mr.  Blake.  "  Ah,  don't  do  that,"  he  added  quickly,  as 
Nat  tried  to  look  down  the  gun  barrel.  "  Never  do 
that.  What  did  I  tell  you  the  first  day  you  shot  at 
the  target  ?  Open  the  gun  here  at  the  breech  by 
pulling  down  the  lever  so,  always  being  careful  not  to 
point  it  at  anybody  or  thing.     Never  take  it  for  granted 

137 


138  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

that  a  gun  is  not  loaded,  and  never  trifle  with  it  under 
any  circumstances.  It  depends  entirely  upon  how  you 
behave  toward  this  little  gun  whether  your  uncle  ever 
gives  it  to  you  for  your  own  or  not :  but  for  the  present 
you  must  be  content  never  to  even  handle  it  except 
when  one  of  us  is  with  you." 

"  Aren't  you  going  to  take  any  nighties  ? "  asked 
Dodo,  who  had  come  down  dressed  in  a  rather  confused 
mass  of  the  warmest  clothes  she  could  find,  half  hoping 
that,  in  spite  of  everything,  she  might  be  allowed  to  go 
at  the  last  moment. 

"  No,  missy,  the  only  way  we  could  use  nighties  at 
Nez'  camp  would  be  to  put  them  on  over  our  clothes. 
A  good  blanket  apiece  will  be  much  more  useful." 

"  The  stage-driver  from  Chestnut  Ridge  way  allowed, 
when  he  came  down  last  night,  they  had  a  big  fall  er 
snow  there  yesterday,  that  is,  big  fer  the  season," 
said  Rod,  as  he  drove  up  with  Tom  and  Jerry  in  the 
farm  wagon,  deep  with  straw  to  keep  feet  from  chilling. 

"  Why  didn't  you  bring  the  sleigh  ?  '•'  called  Olive 
from  the  window,  where  she  stood  in  the  dusk  to  watch 
them  off,  wrapped  in  a  down  quilt. 

"  Snow's  too  soft;  be  all  cut  up  down  by  the  daypo." 

"  There's  an  old  sled  in  the  barn,  may  I  take  it  with 
me  ?  If  there's  thick  snow  at  the  Ridge,  there  may  be 
some  at  Nez'  camp,"  said  Nat,  eagerly. 

"  We  have  as  much  as  we  can  carry  now,  my  boy," 
said  the  Doctor,  "  and  you  may  be  very  sure  if  there  is 
enough  snow  for  coasting,  Nez  will  have  some  sort  of  a 
contrivance  for  you  to  do  it  with." 

"  Oh,  look  !  "  cried  Rap,  pointing  toward  the  southeast. 
The  turnpike  stretched  a  pure  white  pathway  between 


RABBIT   TRACES  139 

the  purplish  gray  arch  of  bare  maple  branches,  and 
where  it  seemed  to  touch  the  sky,  the  sun  was  saunter- 
ing out  from  a  purple  and  gold  gateway. 

"  Good  morning  !  Are  you  all  washed  and  dressed  ?  " 
called  Dodo,  kissing  her  hands  to  the  sun  in  particular 
and  then  stretching  out  her  arms  to  the  beautiful  world 
in  general. 

"  Which  reminds  me,  speaking  of  washing,"  said  her 
father,  kissing  her  and  setting  her  down  inside  the  door, 
"  that  I  do  not  believe  you  have  been  on  speaking  terms 
with  your  own  particular  cake  of  soap  this  morning." 
Dodo  laughed  and  went  upstairs  "  to,"  as  she  said, 
"  unbuild  her  clothes  and  begin  all  over  again." 

"  Let's  run,"  said  Tom  to  Jerry,  as  they  turned  out  of 
the  gate;  "I  feel  so  very  fly  that  I  should  like  to  fly. 
Why  don't  you  laugh  ?  That's  a  joke,"  he  continued, 
jogging  Jerry  with  his  shoulder  and  nearly  upsetting 
him. 

"  Better  not  try  it,"  said  Jerry,  settling  his  gait  again, 
"  or  we  may  be  put  to  haul  logs,  or  in  the  threshing- 
machine,  instead  of  dragging  a  sleigh,  by  and  by,  and 
hearing  House  People  tell  funny  stories." 

"  Look  at  the  tracks  all  over  the  snow  everywhere, 
I  didn't  see  any  yesterda}r,"  said  Nat,  as  they  drove 
down  the  turnpike  ;  "  some  big  and  some  little  and 
some  tiny.      What  do  they  all  belong  to,  daddy  ?  " 

"  Rabbits  chiefly,  —  they  are  almost  all  pad-footed 
prints.  I  see  one  trail  that  belongs  to  a  Skunk  ;  and 
another,  those  sharp  clean  jumps  by  the  stone  fence, 
tells  of  a  Mink ;  the  smallest,  like  a  bird  track,  prob- 
ably belongs  to  a  Meadow  Mouse.  You  did  not  see 
them   yesterday  because  the  little  beasts  seldom  come 


140  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

out  until  the  second  day  after  a  snowstorm.  We 
haven't  time  to  stop  for  you  to  look  for  them,  but  we 
shall  find  plenty  more  at  the  mountain." 

"  Rabbits  are  rather  common  everywhere  in  America, 
aren't  they  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  Yes,  some  member  of  the  family  is  to  be  found 
everywhere,  from  the  Polar  Hare  of  the  Barren  Grounds 
to  the  Jack  Rabbit  of  the  hot  sand-deserts  of  Texas 
and  the  southern  half  of  the  entire  West." 

"  You  call  some  Rabbits  and  others  Hares.  What  is 
the  difference  between  a  Rabbit  and  a  Hare  ?  Don't 
they  belong  to  the  same  family  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  Perhaps  they  work  in  different  guilds,"  ventured 
Rap. 

"No,"  said  the  Doctor,  "they  all  belong  to  the  long- 
eared,  short-tailed  gnawers,  with  the  patent- jumping 
hind  legs.  The  difference  is,  beside  size,  that  little 
Hares  are  born  in  grassy  nests  with  fur  on  and  their 
eyes  open ;  while  little  Rabbits  are  naked  and  blind  and 
are  born  in  burrows.  All  our  species  are  Hares.  The 
Rabbits  that  House  People  keep  sometimes  as  pets, 
are  true  Rabbits,  children  of  European  parents,  and 
not  American  fourfoots,  though  we  still  continue  to 
call  our  Hares,  Rabbits,  the  same  as  we  call  Bisons, 
Buffaloes.'' 

"  See,  there  goes  a  common  Rabbit  now  !  "  cried  Rap. 
"  How  he  bobs  along  and  then  stops  and  sits  up  ;  do 
stop  a  second,  Rod.  He's  looking  at  something  by  that 
tree  and  doesn't  hear  our  wheels,  because  of  the  snow  !  " 

"What  queer  tracks  he  makes,"  said  Nat.  "I 
thought  the  two  big  marks  were  made  by  his  fore 
feet  ;    they  look  as  if   he   hopped   backward,   but   he 


Wood  Hare. 
(Gray  Rabbit.) 


BABBIT   TRACKS  141 

doesn't.  How  are  these  tracks  made,  uncle,  do  you 
know  ?  " 

"  Yes,  but  I  am  going  to  let  you  and  Rap  find  that 
out  for  yourselves." 

"  I  know,''  said  Rap;  "  he  swings  his  hind  feet  around 
his  fore  paws.     I've  often  watched  one  do  it." 

"  There  is  a  Downy  Woodpecker  tapping  on  the 
tree,"  said  Mr.  Blake.  "  Now  Bunny  sees  it,  and  his 
nose  twitches  as  if  he  Avere  saying,  '  Hello  !  is  it  only 
you  making  all  that  noise  ?  '  " 

"  I  wonder  what  makes  Rabbits  so  very  scafey,"  said 
Nat ;  "  they  always  seem  to  be  afraid  of  something,  and 
their  ears  never  stop  jerking  and  twitching." 

"  It's  because  everybody  and  everything  is  always 
chasing  them,"  said  Rap. 

"  Precisely  !  If  you  could  spend  a  single  day  inside 
one  of  their  leaf -brown  skins,  you  would  very  soon  see 
why  poor  brother  Rabbit  is  so  timid.  Half  of  the  year 
he  is  hunted  by  man  ;  all  the  year,  in  wild  places,  he  is 
the  daily  meat  of  the  Fox,  Skunk,  Mink,  Wildcat,  and 
the  larger  birds  of  prey,  and  when  he  comes  near  vil- 
lages or  farms  the  house  cats  and  dogs  take  their  turn 
at  chasing  him." 

"  There's  an  everlastin'  sight  too  many  on  'em  any- 
way," put  in  Rod;  "if  they  wasn't  kep'  down  somehow, 
there'd  be  no  use  farmin'.  If  you  mean  to  grow  turnips 
and  mangels  nex'  year,  Doctor,  yer'll  have  ter  clear 
some  on  'em  out  o'  the  long  wood." 

"  I  don't  see  why  there  are  any  left  at  all,"  said  Nat ; 
"  how  is  it,  uncle  ?  " 

"  Heart  of  Nature  gives  the  smaller,  feebler  animals 
many  ways  of  hiding  and  a  great  many  children,  to 


142  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

make  up  for  the  dangers  they  run,  as  Ave  found  he  did 
with  the  birds.  You  remember  that  the  Hawks  and 
Owls,  with  their  strong  beaks  and  claws,  who  nest  in 
far-away  lonely  places,  laid  fewer  eggs  than  the  birds 
Avho  were  weaker,  or  more  exposed  to  danger.  You 
know  that  the  Ruffed  Grouse  and  Bob-white,  whose 
nests  are  on  the  ground,  have  a  great  many  eggs,  and 
are  protected  beside  by  the  likeness  in  color  of  their 
feathers  to  the  leaves  and  rocks.  Color  protection,  it 
is  called." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  remember,"  said  Nat.  "Then  do  the 
fourfoots  have  this  color  protection  too,  and  do  they 
moult  their  fur  as  birds  do  feathers  and  change  color?" 

"  Don't  you  remember  the  Buffalo  moulted  his  hair 
every  spring,  and  looked  as  miserable  and  ragged  as 
any  old  rooster  ?  "  said  Rap. 

"  Yes,  of  course,  but  he  didn't  change  color  very 
much,  only  sort  of  faded,  and  then  plenty  of  birds  like 
Sparrows  and  Thrushes  don't  change  much  either." 

"  Several  of  our  fourfoots  change  color  as  completely 
every  year  as  the  Bobolink  or  Tallage r,"  said  the  Doctor. 

7&  7$  %  Tfc  7TJ 

They  reached  the  station  not  a  minute  too  soon. 
After  settling  themselves  in  the  passenger  car,  —  for 
there  was  only  one  and  one  baggage  truck,  —  as  the  frost 
was  too  thick  on  the  windows  for  them  to  look  out,  they 
continued  their  talk  about  Rabbits. 

"  How  long  must  we  stay  in  these  cars  ?  They  are 
dreadfully  stuffy,"  said  Nat,  as  he  took  off  his  cap  and 
scarf  and  helped  Rap  to  unwind  his. 

"  Less  than  an  hour,"  said  the  Doctor.  "  We  go 
around  the  hills  and  the  mountain  and  stop  the  other 


RABBIT   TRACKS  143 

side,  instead  of  going  through  and  over  as  we  did  when 
we  drove  there  last  month." 

"How  many  children  do  Rabbits  have  every  year, 
daddy,  and  where  do  they  live,  —  in  holes  like  Wood- 
chucks,  or  haystack  houses  like  Muskrats?" 

"  Our  Gray  Rabbit,  or  Wood  Hare,  as  the  Wise  Men 
wish  him  called,  hides  in  holes  or  burrows,  generally 
made  by  some  other  animal,  sleeps  or  rests  often  in  a 
form  made  by  its  body  in  the  grass,  and  cares  for  its 
young  in  a  ground  nest,  lined  with  grasses  and  its  own 
soft  fur,  which  hides  the  little  Bunnies  from  sight. 
Three  times  a  year  a  single  pair  of  Hares  may  have  a 
nestful  of  young  to  care  for,  so  you  can  easily  see  why 
there  are  plenty  of  them.  But  the  Wolf,  the  Bear,  and 
the  Wildcat,  who  have  protecting  teeth  and  claws,  do 
not  have  so  many  young.  In  fact,  the  Bear  and  Wild- 
cat have  to  be  content  with  only  three  or  four." 

"  Are  there  many  other  kinds  of  Rabbits  in  this  coun- 
try beside  the  Wood  Hare  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"Twelve  or  more,  though  four  or  five  are  all  that  will 
interest  you." 

"  Do  tell  us  about  them  now,"  begged  Nat,  "it  won't 
make  it  seem  so  long  in  getting  to  Chestnut  Ridge,  and 
these  cars  are  so  slow  !  " 

" '  Yet  the  way  seemed  long  before  him, 
And  his  heart  outran  his  footsteps ! '  " 

hummed  the  Doctor. 

"What  does  that  mean?  It's  poetry,"  said  Rap, 
"but  I  don't  understand  it." 

"  It  means  that  when  you  want  to  get  to  a  place  very 
much,  you  wish  yourself  there  so  much  faster  than  you 


144  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

can  possibly  travel,  that  the  journey  seems  about  four 
times  as  long  as  it  really  is  !  " 

"  If  we  hear  about  Rabbits  now,  won't  Dodo  be  dis- 
appointed? "  asked  kind-hearted  Rap. 

"  I  have  pictures  of  them  in  my  portfolio,  and  you 
boys  must  remember  and  tell  her  all  about  them. 

"  Of  these  four  Rabbits  the  Wood  Hare,  the  smallest 
and  prettiest,  is  something  less  than  a  foot  and  a  half 
long  from  the  tip  of  his  nose  to  the  root  of  his  cunning 
little  turned-up  white  tail." 

"  Is  that  the  way  you  measure  fourfoots,  to  the  be- 
ginning of  their  tails?"  asked  Rap.  "We  measure 
birds  to  the  end  of  the  tail." 

"  Yes,  but  a  bird's  tail  where  it  joins  the  body  is  so 
overlaid  with  feathers  that  it  is  difficult  to  tell  where  it 
begins  and  the  body  ends  ;  with  fourfoots  it  is  differ- 
ent. If  I  should  tell  you,  for  instance,  that  a  Red  Fox 
was  four  feet  long,  you  would  think  him  much  longer 
than  he  is,  and  not  understand  his  size  as  well  as  if  I 
said  his  body  was  two  and  a  half  and  his  tail  one  and  a 
half  feet  long." 

"  Yes,  I  see  ;  if  the  tail  was  measured  in,  he  would 
seem  a  giant." 

"  The  Wood  Hare  has  large  eyes,  long  ears,  the  long 
hind  legs  of  the  family,  also  fur  snow-shoes  on  the  soles 
of  his  feet." 

"  What  good  are  such  long  back  legs  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  To  jump  with;  eveiy  animal  family  has  some  par- 
ticular way  of  moving,  ■ — locomotion  it  is  called,  —  and 
Hares  are  leapers,  which  is  told  in  the  Latin  name 
lepus  the  Wise  Men  give  them." 

"Does  this  Hare  ever  change  color  and  moult?" 


BABBIT   TRACKS  115 

"He  keeps  very  much  the  same  color  all  the  year,  — 
a  grayish  brown  top  coat  with  bits  of  yellow  and  a 
whitish  vest.  As  to  moulting',  all  fur-bearing  animals 
moult  spring  and  fall,  and  have  a  long  hairy  covering 
that  they  wear  all  the  year,  and  a  short  soft  under-fur 
that  grows  thick  to  keep  them  warm  in  winter  and 
thins  out  in  spring.  Animals  from  the  North  need 
most  protection  and  have  the  thickest  under-fur,  so  are 
of  more  value  than  the  same  sort  of  animal  who  lives 
in  the  South  and  has  little  need  of  under-fur.  All  the 
old  hair  has  its  time  of  breaking  and  shedding  like  the 
hair  of  our  own  heads.  "  This  Hare  likes  to  live  near 
woods  where  he  can  find  tender  shoots  to  nibble,  when 
gardens  are  empty  and  meadows  covered  with  snow  ; 
but  he  spends  most  of  his  time  in  brush  lots  where 
there  is  thick  shelter,  and  he  lives  in  every  state  in  the 
Union  that  can  yield  him  food.  Pretty  and  gentle  he 
is,  yet  no  one  can  deny  that  he  is  a  mischief-maker,  and 
while  he  must  not  be  allowed  to  eat  our  lettuce,  cab- 
bages, or  field  roots,  we  must  also  be  careful  not  to 
exterminate  him." 

"What  good  does  he  do?  Can  he  earn  his  living 
and  pay  his  taxes  ?  " 

"  Yes,  he  does,  in  a  roundabout  way,  by  being  food 
for  some  other  animal,  who  would  eat  more  valuable 
things  if  it  were  not  for  poor  little  Bunny. 

"  Another  Hare  which  might  be  mistaken  for  the 
Gray  Rabbit  is  his  swamp -loving  cousin,  the  Marsh  Hare 
who  lives  south  of  North  Carolina,  taking  to  the  water 
like  a  rat.  This  Marsh  Hare  has  a  large  head,  short 
ears  and  legs,  and  little  or  no  hair  on  its  soles,  so  that 
its  footprints  show  the  mark  of  the  toe-nails.     Its  coat 


146 


FOUIt-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


is  darker  in  winter  than  in  summer,  and  is  always  a 
deeper  brown  than  the  Wood  Hare's,  and  its  tail  is  a 
mere  scrap  lined  with  gray." 

"  Why  do  they  have  shorter  ears  and  legs  than  the 
Wood  Hare,  and  no  fur  under  their  feet?"  asked  Nat. 

"  Mammals,  like  birds,  are  all  adapted  to  the  places 
in  which  they  live.  A  Hare  living  in  open  woods  and 
fields  must  have  long  legs  to  give  him  speed  to  run  to 
cover  and  long  ears  to  catch  the  least  sound  of  danger. 
The  openings  of  their  ears  are  sidewise,  though  they 
can  move  them  forward  and  back  when  they  are  listen- 
ing. The  sense  of  smell  and  hearing  in  the  gnawing 
fourfoots  seems  to  be  chiefly  used  to  tell  them  where 
their  enemies  are ;  while  the  ears  and  noses  of  the  flesh 


Marsh  Hake. 


BABBIT   TBACKS  147 

eaters  serve  to  guide  them  to  the  animal  food  they  hunt. 
The  ears  of  the  cannibal  beasts  open  forward,  and  have 
little  pockets  in  their  outside  edges,  like  sounding 
boards,  to  catch  the  sounds  coming  from  behind  them." 

"Why,  Mr.  Wolf  and  Quick  have  those  things  in 
their  ears.  I've  often  wondered  whether  they  were 
tears  or  bites,  or  made  so  on  purpose,"  said  Nat. 

"  To  return  to  our  Marsh  Hare,  who  lives  in  soft 
ground,  hiding  by  dense  bushes  and  often  hides  in  the 
water  itself  with  his  ears  flattened  back  and  only  his 
eyes  and  nose  peeping  above  it,  what  use  would  long 
legs  be  to  him  ?  He  does  not  go  into  farms  and  gar- 
dens for  his  food,  but  browses  on  twigs  and  marsh  roots. 
He  could  not  leap  about  in  such  places,  and  hairy  soles 
would  make  his  feet  heavy  and  soggy  when  he  swims, 
and  he  slinks  along  close  to  the  ground  when  on  land. 
His  greatest  danger  is  from  great  water  snakes  and 
alligators.  His  nest,  made  of  chewed-up  reeds  some- 
times nicely  arched  like  a  Meadowlark's,  is  often  placed 
on  so  small  a  hummock  that  it  seems  to  float  like  that 
of  a  marsh  bird,  and  the  very  young  Marsh  Hares  have 
funny,  chubby  little  heads  quite  unlike  the  little  Wood 
Hare. 

"  You  must  go  quite  across  country  if  you  expect  to 
find  the  third  Hare  of  the  group.  If  you  move  west 
to  Texas  in  a  straight  line  from  the  Marsh  Hare's 
haunts,  you  will  find  the  most  astonishing  member  of 
the  Hare  family.  Anywhere  from  Texas  to  Montana, 
or  from  Missouri  to  the  Pacific,  if  you  see  a  cloud  of 
dust  following  the  ground  in  the  open,  or  a  miniature 
cyclone  part  the  grass,  stop  a  bit  and  watch.  What 
is  it  going   by  ?     A  blown-away  windmill,  a  Kangaroo 


148 


FO  UR- FOOT  EI)   AMERICANS 


turning  somersaults,  a  mechanical  flail  escaped  from 
its  inventor  ?  No,  only  a  Jackass  Rabbit  (called  Jack 
for  short),  the  largest  and  best  known  of  this  south- 
ern group.  When  Jack  pauses,  you  will  find  him  a 
curious  combination  of  Donkey's  ears  joined  to  long 
legs  by  a  skinny  bit  of  a  body  about  two  feet  long, 
covered  above  with  light  brown  hairs  tipped  and  striped 
with  black,  and  a  black  tail  three  inches  long,  all  this 
standing  on  large  pad  feet.  Jack  looks  as  stupid  as 
his  hoofed  namesake,  but  as  he  whirls  along  to  spread 
ruin  to  field,  garden,  and  orchard,  with  his  endless 
appetite,  you  cannot  but  admire  the  muscle  and  endur- 
ance of  this  prince  of  Gnawers.  Jack  Kabbits  swarm 
over  their  range  in  vast  troops.  Ten,  fifteen,  or  even 
twenty  thousand  at  one  time  have    been  surrounded 


Jack  Rabbit. 


BABBIT   TRACKS  149 

and  driven  into  pens  and  slaughtered,  very  much  after 
the  same  fashion  that  the  Indians  trapped  the  Buffa- 
loes. Though  this  sounds  cruel,  it  seems  to  be  neces- 
sary, if  the  great  crops,  that  mean  bread  to  the  country, 
are  to  be  saved.  Now,  instead  of  merely  killing  the 
Rabbits  and  letting  the  flesh  go  to  waste,  thoughtful 
sportsmen  have  made  a  plan  to  send  them  to  nearby 
cities  to  be  food  for  the  poor  who  can  buy  but  little 
meat." 

"  Aren't  there  any  other  fourfoots  out  there  to  help 
keep  the  Jacks  down  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"'  Yes,  the  Coyotes,  or  Prairie  Wolves,  used  to  feed 
on  them,  but  people  found  that  these  little  Wolves 
stole  young  calves  and  sheep,  and  they  turned  about 
and  killed  so  many  of  them  that  the  Jack  Rabbits 
laughed,  shook  their  ears,  and  said,  '  We  are  good 
things,  let  us  eat  more  and  raise  a  great  many  children,' 
and  off  they  whirled  again.  No  other  beast  can  run 
like  a  Jack  Rabbit  ;  the  swiftest  horse  cannot  overtake 
him  in  a  fair  chase,  and  there  is  a  famous  race  recorded 
between  a  Jack  and  a  greyhound,  where  the  Hare  dis- 
tanced his  pursuer  for  two  miles  and  a  half  and  then 
hid  in  a  log,  leaving  the  hound  quite  spent. 

"  The  result  of  the  Jack  Rabbits  living  as  they  pleased 
and  holding  high  carnival  was  a  series  of  hunts  in 
which  thousands  were  killed  ;  then  the  Coyotes  in  that 
particular  spot,  having  no  Jacks  to  eat,  took  calves, 
sheep,  and  poultiy  boldly,  and  so  trouble  for  the  farmer 
and  cattle  raisers  rolls  along  between  the  two  animals. 
What  suits  the  ranchman  does  not  suit  the  farmer,  and 
the  end  of  the  war  is  not  yet  in  sight." 

"Perhaps   an  earthquake  may  swallow  them   all, — 


150  FOUIi-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

Jacks  and  Coyotes,"  said  Nat,  cheerfully.  "  No  one 
would  mind,  would  they,  uncle  ?  " 

"I  am  quite  sure  they  would  not,"  said  the  Doctor, 
laughing ;  "  and  it  would  be  one  less  thing  for  animal 
lovers  to  worry  about." 

"  We  are  quite  lucky  to  have  such  a  nice  sort  of 
Rabbit  living  here,  even  if  it  does  eat  a  little  more 
than  we  can  spare,"  said  Nat.  "  But  you  haven't  told 
us  about  the  kind  that  changes  his  color  every  year. 
What  is  it  called,  and  does  that  live  in  the  North  or 
South  ?  " 

"  It  is  named  the  Varying  Hare  and  lives  northward 
from  the  state  of  New  York,  up  to  Canada  and  the 
northwestern  parts  of  British  America.  In  fact,  its 
haunts  in  the  Northwest  touch  and  overlap  those  of  the 
Polar  Hare,  who  lives  as  far  north  as  man  has  been, 
and  is  the  companion  of  the  Musk  Ox  and  Polar  Bear. 
In  that  far-away  home  this  Hare  always  stays  the  color 
of  the  surrounding  snow. 

"  In  size  this  Ararying  Hare  comes  between  the  Jack 
Rabbit  and  Marsh  Hare  ;  it  has  much  of  Jack's  length 
of  limbs,  ears,  and  power  of  running,  though  it  is, 
fortunately,  not  as  destructive.  It  has  furry  feet  like 
our  Wood  Hare,  and  the  feeding  and  living  habits  of 
the  two  are  very  much  alike,  except  that  the  Varying 
Hare  is  more  rarely  seen  about  in  full  daylight  and 
prefers  to  feed  toward  evening,  or  in  the  night,  like  so 
many  of  our  fourfoots.  The  change  of  color  is  what 
calls  our  attention  to  it.  In  summer  its  general  hue 
is  reddish  brown,  many  of  the  long  hairs  having  black 
tips.  Its  underparts  are  white  and  yellowish  and  its 
little    turned-up  tail  is  white  and  fluffy,  so  that  the 


RABBIT   TRACKS 


151 


name  Cotton  Tail  applies  to  it  as  well  as  to  onr  Wood 
Hare.  This  dress  is  worn  from  April  to  November,  or 
a  trifle  earlier  or  later  according  to  location.  During 
autumn  or  early  winter,  in  its  most  northern  haunts, 
it  becomes  almost  white  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
dark  hairs  that  frinsre  the  ears.     How  is  this  done  ?  " 


98S9P 


Varying  Hare. 


"  Moulting  !  "  said  the  boys  together.  "  Moulting 
the  dark  summer  hair,  and  getting  new  white  hair  for 
winter." 

"  That  is  the  way  that  I  believe  the  change  is  made, 
but  the  Wise  Men  have  disagreed  about  this  for  some 
time.  Some  of  them  think  that  the  brown  summer  fur 
grows  longer  and  changes  white  at  the  approach  of 
winter.     Others    that  the    new  winter  coat  comes  in 


152  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

brown  and  then  blanches,  while  others  confess  that  they 
have  not  yet  decided. 

"You  know  I  told  you  a  few  minutes  ago  that  our  fur 
animals  have  a  soft  under-fur  beside  the  long  hairs. 
Some  Wise  Men  say  these,  in  the  Varying  Hare,  are 
quite  black  in  summer,  but  as  soon  as  very  cold  weather 
touches  them  they  begin  to  grow  white  at  the  tips.  As 
the  cold  continues  the  white  spreads  down,  until  in 
very  cold  climates  the  whole  hair  grows  white,  and  the 
thick  under-fur  also  comes  in  white.  They  say  that  in 
spring,  when  the  cold  is  over,  the  little  white  tips  break 
off  the  long  hairs  and  the  color  comes  back  to  the  lower 
parts  until  such  times  as  they  are  pushed  out  by  new 
hair ;  but  animals  like  the  Arctic  Fox,  Polar  Hare,  and 
Bear  always  stay  in  the  cold  and  snow  and  so  are  always 
protected  by  a  white  coat." 

"  Why  do  you  think  this  Hare  moults  and  grows  new 
white  fur,  uncle  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  Because  I  have  examined  many  specimens  shot  at 
different  seasons,  and  I  found  that  the  white  fur  is 
much  finer  and  softer  than  the  brown  summer  coat,  — 
a  fact  very  easily  seen  on  the  nose  and  ear  tips,  where 
the  change  begins  ;  in  fact,  the  white  winter  fur  seems 
to  me  to  be  of  an  entirely  different  texture,  without 
the  grain  and  stiffness  of  the  summer  coat.  Perhaps 
one  of  you  boys  will,  some  day  in  the  future,  be 
the  very  one  who  will  settle  this  matter  —  who  knows  ? 
But  whether  this  Hare  changes  by  moulting  or  not,  in 
places  where  it  is  not  so  cold  only  the  tips  of  the  outer 
fur  are  white,  and  he  looks  merely  snow  sprinkled.  So 
you  see  varying  is  a  very  good  name  for  the  Hare,  as  he 
even  varies  according  to  the  place  where  he  lives." 


BABBIT   TRACKS  153 

"  I  suppose  there  is  some  reason  for  that  too,"  said 
Rap. 

" All  through  with  the  Rabbits?"  asked  Mr.  Blake, 
who  had  been  in  the  baggage  car.  "  We  shall  be  at 
the  Ridge  in  a  few  minutes,  and  I  think  you'll  find  a 
surprise  waiting  for  you.  No,  1  won't  tell  ;  no  use  in 
asking. 

"  Did  the  Doctor  say  anything  about  the  Little  Chief 
Hare,  a  sort  of  a  cousin  to  Cotton  Tails,  who  stands  up, 
puts  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  and  whistles  ?  "  asked 
Mr.  Blake,  quickly,  to  divert  the  boys'  attention.  "  Yes, 
I'm  not  joking,  for  I've  seen  them  stand  up  and  heard 
them  whistle,  though  I  won't  be  positive  about  the 
pockets." 

"  Do  they  live  near  here  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  No,  miles  and  miles  away.  The  first  one  I  ever 
saw  was  when  I  was  prospecting  with  our  survey  in 
autumn,  along  a  cliff  beyond  the  Missouri  divide.  I 
heard  a  queer  little  noise,  something  between  a  cry,  a 
squeal,  and  a  whistle,  coming  from  a  pile  of  slide  rock. 
I  waited  a  minute,  and  the  sound  came  again  and 
seemed  to  either  echo  or  be  repeated  from  several 
places.  Presently  out  hopped  or  rather  hobbled,  for 
they  move  slowly,  a  couple  of  queer  little  beasts  not 
eight  inches  long,  with  wavy  brown  and  black  fur, 
small  round  ears,  real  Guinea  Pig  faces,  and  nothing 
but  a  sort  of  bump  for  a  tail.  I  said  to  myself,  '  You 
look  something  like  a  Gopher,  but  you're  not ;  you 
look  as  if  you  had  tried  to  be  a  Guinea  Pig,  but  failed 
on  account  of  the  climate.     Who  are  you  ?  " 

"  One  of  our  party  told  me  all  its  names,  —  Pika, 
Little  Chief,  or  Whistling  Hare,  and  before  I  left  that 


154  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

region  I  saw  a  Pika  household,  inside  a  little  loose 
tower  of  flat  slide  rock.  What  do  you  think,  but 
the  little  fellows  had  a  regular  hay  loft  in  there  where 
they  had  cut  stout  grass  and  brought  it  in  bundles  in 
their  mouths,  packing  it  away  on  the  stone  shelves  as 
neat  as  you  please,  to  have  it  ready  for  winter  food.  I 
knew  the  hillside  was  full  of  these  little  beasts,  for 
they  kept  squealing  like  a  colony  of  singing  mice." 

"  Who  would  think  that  there  is  so  much  difference 
between  Rabbit  cousins,"  sighed  Rap,  as  if  he  was  op- 
pressed by  the  amount  there  was  to  learn  even  about 
the  simplest  fourfoots.  "  Different  lengths  of  ears  and 
legs  ;  even  their  scraps  of  tails  are  different." 

"  Speaking  of  tails,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  there  is  a 
great  deal  more  meaning  in  them  than  people  usually 
think.  When  a  Hare  is  running  you  may  have  a  poor 
view  of  his  head,  but  if  you  see  his  tail,  it  will  give  you 
a  clew  to  his  name,  for  each  species  wears  his  in  a  dif- 
ferent way." 

"  Chestnut  Ridge  !  Change  for  Saw  Mills  and  the 
Junction  !  "  called  a  brakeman,  throwing  open  the  car 
door. 

Rap,  who  had  kept  his  crutch  ready  during  the  last 
half  of  the  journey,  reached  the  door  as  soon  as  Nat. 
There  was  the  surprise  in  front  of  them.  Good  sleigh- 
ing, a  big  wood  sled  piled  with  blankets  to  drag  them 
to  Nez'  camp,  and  Olaf  for  driver  ! 


XII 


THE    WINTER    AVOODS 


LAF !  Olaf !  How  did  you  know 
we  were  coming  this  way?  Nez 
wrote,  '  Never  mind  accepting, 
but  come,'  and  so  we  did  !  " 
cried  Nat,  before  they  had  ex- 
changed greetings  with  their 
old  friend.  "  Beside,  I  thought 
you  lived  too  far  off,  —  miles 
farther  away  than  Nez." 
"A  Fox  came  to  the  lumber 
camp  two  nights  ago  and  barked  three  times,"  replied 
Olaf,  laughing  shyly  as  he  glanced  at  the  Doctor. 
"  The  first  bark  said,  '  Some  one  thinks  of  you.'  The 
second  bark,  '  Go  to  the  stopping-place  of  the  iron 
horse  two  days  hence.'  The  third  bark  said,  'You  will 
find  there  those  you  greatly  love,'  so  here  I  am." 

"  A  Fox,  how  could  he  know  about  us  ;  though  I've 
heard  they  are  very  wise,  and  if  he  did  know  how  could 
he  tell  you  ?  "  said  Nat,  very  much  puzzled. 

"  Wood  people  understand  the  sign  language  of  the 
fourfoots,"  replied  Olaf,  "  and  to  show  that  what  this 
Fox  said  was  true,  next  morning  when  I  drove  my  team 
down  to  the  Saw  Mills,  there  I  saw  a  yellow  fire-letter 
from  the  good  Doctor,  telling  me  the  same  thing." 

155 


156  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

"  What  is  a  fire-letter  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  The  letter  whose  words  come  as  lightning  sparks," 
said  Olaf,  who,  in  trying  to  puzzle  the  boys,  fell  into 
the  picture  language  so  common  in  the  north  countries. 

"  Oh,  a  telegram,  of  course  !  "  cried  Rap. 

"  But  the  Fox,"  persisted  Nat.  "  I  don't  understand 
about  him." 

"  Hush,  do  not  speak  loud  or  he  may  hear  you,  for 
it  was  a  very  shy  Fox  that  brought  me  the  news,  —  a 
Dream  Fox  !  " 

"  Oh,  how  you  fooled  us  !  "  shouted  Nat. 

"  No,  I  don't  call  it  fooling,"  said  Rap,  quite 
seriously  ;  "  a  Dream  Fox  may  be  cousin  of  a  Night- 
mare !  " 

So  they  started  on  their  sleigh-ride  in  a  very  jolly 
mood,  and  in  a  few  minutes  left  behind  the  dozen 
houses  and  store  that  was  called  Chestnut  Ridge,  as 
they  cut  down  into  one  of  the  narrow  valley  roads 
that  finally  zig-zagged  up  toward  Nez'  camp. 

"  It  takes  more  to  make  a  mountain  out  in  the  far 
west  country  than  it  does  here,  doesn't  it,  daddy  ? " 
asked  Nat. 

"  Yes,  I  rather  think  it  does ;  but  there  is  more 
comfort  and  beauty  to  the  square  inch  in  one  of  our 
mountains,  even  if  they  do  seem  only  molehills  com- 
pared to  the  Rockies." 

"  I  see  more  Rabbit  tracks,"  said  Rap,  "  and  dog 
tracks,  too,  ■ —  dogs  that  have  been  aliasing  them,  — 
over  by  those  rocks  !  " 

"  Not  dog,  but  Fox  tracks,"  said  Olaf,  "  though  the 
print  itself  might  be  of  a  dog." 

"  Then  how  do  you  know  it  isn't  ?" 


THE    WINTER    WOODS  157 

"I  will  show  you  this  thing  that  you  may  under- 
stand a  little  of  the  wood  language,"  said  Olaf,  pulling' 
up  the  horses.  "  You  need  not  fear  to  stick  in  the 
snow  ;  it  is  even,  but  not  deep,"  he  said  to  Rap,  helping 
him  down  very  gently.  "  Keep  behind  me,  so  that  we 
may  follow  these  tracks  without  trampling  them  down. 
Are  the  Fox  tracks  coming  toward  us  or  going  away  ?  " 

"  Coming  toward  us.1' 

"  We  will  follow  them  backward  to  see  where  they 
start," 

So  saying  they  tracked  the  footprints  a  couple  of 
hundred  feet  around  some  hazel  bushes,  then  on  by  a 
little  knoll  until  they  ended,  or  rather  began,  in  a  low 
opening  between  some  rocks  and  a  partly  decayed  log. 
Here  the  snow  was  trodden  down  and  mixed  with  earth 
and  several  red  splashes,  while  foot-prints  returned  to 
the  hole  from  a  different  direction. 

"  Dogs  do  not  live  in  ground  burrows  or  between 
rocks  ;  now  you  see  it  is  a  Fox.  Here  the  Fox  went 
out  hungry,  very  early  this  morning,  for  the  prints  are 
clear.  There  at  the  other  side  he  returned  with  food, 
—  the  blood  stains  are  not  more  than  three  hours  old. 
It  was  not  a  bird  he  brought,  but  something  heavier 
that  partly  dragged  on  the  ground,  for  there  are  marks 
here  and  there  in  the  snow. 

"  Turn  now  and  follow  the  outgoing  prints  and  you 
will  see  what  has  happened.  It  is  not  a  long  course, 
for  this  Fox  found  his  breakfast  quickly,  I'm  thinking." 

They  turned  about  and  retraced  their  steps  until  at 
last  Olaf  pointed  to  where  Rabbit  tracks  came  from 
under  some  bushes  and  went  in  the  same  direction  as 
the  Fox  marks. 


158  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

"  Here  came  the  Rabbit,  but  much  earlier  than  the 
Fox,  for  his  prints  are  crusted  ;  now  they  run  to- 
gether." 

"  Was  the  Fox  chasing  the  Rabbit  ?  I  should  think 
Bunny  could  run  the  fastest,"  said  Rap. 

"  No,  not  chasing,  but  following  him  by  scent.  See  ! 
here  the  Rabbit  has  stopped  to  nibble  twigs  and  buds. 
Ah!  now  we  have  the  battlefield  :  the  Rabbit  nestled 
in  the  snow,  the  Fox  came  here  and  crouched,  waiting 
for  Bunny  to  move  before  springing.  The  end  was 
beyond  in  the  open." 

The  boys  looked  and  saw  where  the  snow  was  beaten 
down  and  covered  with  little  tufts  of  fur,  and  from 
there  were  no  more  Rabbit  tracks,  only  a  single  trail 
leading  back  toward  the  den,  brightened  here  and  there 
by  blood  marks. 

"  The  Fox  family  had  a  good  breakfast,  anyway," 
said  Nat,  cheerfully.  "  How  I  wish  I  could  have  peeped 
into  their  house.     Can  we  ?  " 

"  I  think  we  must  hurry  back  ;  they  will  be  cold, 
waiting  in  the  sleigh." 

Soon  the  road  met  and  followed  the  river  and  was 
quite  shut  in  on  the  north  by  hemlock  woods. 

"There  is  a  very  big  mark,  —  a  Woodchuck  track," 
said  Nat,  pointing  to  a  broad  trail  that  came  close  to 
the  road  and  went  toward  the  wood  again.  "  I  didn't 
know  they  lived  in  such  wild  places." 

"  It  can't  be  a  Woodchuck,  they  hole  up  before  it 
gets  as  cold  as  this,  you  know,"  said  Rap. 

"  Hole  up  ;  no,  I  don't  know.     What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"Why,  they  don't  like  cold,  and  go  into  their  holes 
and  stay  there  until  spring." 


THE    WINTER    WOODS  159 

"Oh,  yes,  and  live  on  what  they  have  stored  up,  like 
Mice  and  Squirrels." 

"  No,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  the  Woodclmck  lives  with- 
out eating-,  and  sleeps  so  soundly  that  he  never  even 
feels  hungry  ;  the  Ground  Squirrels  that  go  into  their 
holes  for  a  time  take  care  to  fill  their  cupboards 
first." 

"  Why  don't  the  Woodchucks  starve  before  spring, 
or  else  freeze?  " 

"  The  fat  they  have  gained  in  the  summer  by  good 
living  keeps  them  from  doing  either,  and  this  fat  serves 
them  both  for  food  and  fire.  Then,  too,  a  Woodchnck 
is  very  particular  how  he  puts  himself  to  bed  for  this 
winter  nap.  He  does  not  spread  himself  out  like  a 
windmill  and  kick  off  the  clothes,  as  some  House 
Children  I  know,  do,  but  curls  himself  up  with  his 
nose  under  his  paws  so  that  even  his  breath  is  not 
wasted,  but  warms  his  feet  like  a  stove." 

"  Do  any  other  fourfoots  sleep  this  way  ?  " 

"  The  long  winter  sleep  ?  Yes,  Bears  do  in  cold 
regions,  sometimes  not  coming  out  until  May.  Their 
little  consins,  the  Coons,  also  go  in  for  a  while  in  early 
winter  before  there  is  a  good  crust  on  the  snow,  also 
the  Chipmunk,  and  many  others  beside. 

"  Even  the  animals  who  live  on  flesh  and  hunt  all 
through  the  winter  are  very  particular  how  they  go  to 
sleep  in  cold  weather,  usually  managing  to  put  their 
noses  on  their  legs,  so  that  these  parts  that  are  thinnest 
and  feel  cold  soonest  shall  have  the  warmth  of  their 
breath.  The  Fox  does  even  more,  he  spreads  his 
bushy  tail  to  cover  his  nose,  and  as  you  can  imagine 
makes  a  sort  of  respirator  for  himself,  for  by  breathing 


160  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

through  his  thick  tail  he  gets  no  icy  air  to  give  him  a 
sore  throat." 

"  Isn't  it  wonderful,"  said  Rap,  as  if  he  could  hardly 
understand  it  all.  "  I  know  by  myself,"  he  added, 
"  that  you  can  go  longer  without  being  hungry  when 
you  are  asleep  than  when  you're  awake.  Sometimes 
I've  slept  twelve  hours,  but  when  I'm  awake  I  eat 
breakfast,  dinner,  and  tea  all  in  twelve  hours." 

"  The  streams  are  not  frozen  yet,  even  the  little  ones," 
said  Mr.  Blake  ;  "  it  ought  to  be  a  good  season  for  the 
Skunks,  who  are  great  drinkers.  Does  Nez  do  much 
trapping  ?  Of  course  now  there  can  be  very  little  to 
take  hereabouts." 

"  He  catches  Skunks,  Rabbits,  Minks,  and  a  few  Foxes 
and  Otters,"  said  Olaf.  "  Up  to  this  week  he  has  done 
well  on  Coons, — his  place  looks  something  like  a  fur- 
trading  post.  Nez  is  bound  to  catch  something  wherever 
he  camps.  There's  a  Fox  been  eat.-  up  a. lot  of  fowls 
that  belonged  to  an  old  woman  do\  8ft  the  hollow,  and 
he  has  to  be  caught,  or  the  poor  o.  ody  will  starve. 
This  Fox  is  too  cute  to  trap,  so  Nez  planned  to  watch 
for  it  to-night.  He  has  a  good  dog  and  thought  you 
might  like  to  go  out,  for  old  times'  sake,  though  a  Fox 
is  small  game  after  Panthers  and  Grizzlies." 

"  Full  moon,  too,  nothing  could  be  better,"  said  the 
Doctor,  adding  with  a  boyish  laugh,  "  it's  a  duty  to 
kill  a  Fox  that  steals  a  poor  woman's  poultry,  isn't  it, 
Jack  ?  " 

"  It's  a  poor  sportsman  who  ever  lacks  an  excuse  for 
fair  hunting."  Then  the  men  began  discussing  Foxes 
so  earnestly  that  Nat  had  to  speak  twice  before  he  was 
heard. 


THE    WINTER    WOODS  161 

"  If  that  wasn't  a  Woodchuck  trail  by  the  road, 
what  sort  of  a  broad,  low-crawling  beast  made  it  ?  " 

"  A  Porcupine,  most  likely,"  said  Olaf .  "  There  are 
a  few  straying  about  still,  though  it  is  rather  far  south 
for  them." 

"  Porcupines  ?  I  thought  they  were  Menagerie  ani- 
mals, —  very  dangerous  ones  who  chase  people  and 
shoot  them  all  full  of  sharp  spikes  like  arrows,  that 
grow  on  their  backs  !  I  hope  they  won't  come  after  us. 
Cactus  prickles  are  awful,  when  they  get  in  your  hands, 
but  Porcupine  spikes  must  be  worse." 

"Nez  has  a  Porcupine  in  a  pen  up  at  his  camp,  so 
you  can  see  it.  They  do  not  shoot  their  quills.  When 
a  Porcupine  is  frightened,  he  humps  his  back  and  draws 
his  head  down  between  his  fore  paws  like  a  Turtle  try- 
ing to  get  into  his  shell.  Then  all  the  quills  on  his 
back  stand  out  like  a  sort  of  shield,  and  if  anything 
tries  to  grab  or  \  ..e  the  Porcupine,  that  thing  will 
surely  get  its  mc  and  paws  full  of  spikes  that  hold 
on  lililr".  fish-hool  He  has  an  ugly  square  sort  of  a 
tail,  too,  all  covered  with  quills,  that  he  uses  for  a  club 
when  he  is  angry,  and  a  blow  from  it  drives  the  barbed 
spikes  far  into  the  flesh  of  his  enemy." 

"  Mighty  queer  things,  these  Porcupines,"  said  Mr. 
Blake.  "  Sort  of  living  pincushions  with  the  pins  put 
in  point  up.  I  meddled  with  one. when  I  was  a  boy, 
and  I  haven't  forgotten  it  yet,  —  the  pins  went  in  point 
first  and  stuck  there  heads  down  !  " 

"  What  good  are  they,  daddy ;  do  they  have  fur  or 
make  meat,  or  eat  bad  insects,  or  belong  to  a  guild  ?  " 

"  They  seem  to  be  of  no  particular  use  to  House 
People,  though  the  Indians  are  fond  of  their  meat  and 


162 


FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


weave  their  quills  into  belts  and  other  ornaments  and 
use  them  to  trim  their  robes.  In  fact,  Porcupines, 
though  gentle  and  harmless  personally,  are  rather  mis- 
chievous animals  belonging  to  the  Gnawers,  and  eating- 
vegetable  food.     In  winter  they  gnaw  the  twigs  and 

bark  of  trees, 
and  as  they  do 
not  sleep  the 
winter  sleep 
they  destroy 
a  great  deal 
of  valuable 
wood.  People 
can  tell  how 
deep  the  snow 
has  been  by 
the  naked 
bands  on  the 
evergreen 
trees  where 
the  Porcupine 
has  gnawed 
a  way  the 
bark,  for  they 
are  very  hun- 
gry beasts." 
"  How  big  are  they,"  asked  Rap,  "  and  do  they  live  in 
dens  like  Foxes  or  in  the  earth  ?  " 

"  They  sometimes  grow  to  be  twice  the  size  of  a 
Woodchuck,  and  they  look  larger  yet  when  their  quills 
stick  up.  They  live  in  dens,  in  the  crevices  between 
rocks  and  in  tree  holes.      If  you  should  look  in  one  of 


Canada  Porcupine. 


THE    WINTER    WOODS  163 

these  places,  you  would  find  it  strewn  with  the  quills 
that  had  fallen  out  from  time  to  time." 

"  If  something  bit  them  so  they  lost  some  quills, 
would  new  quills  grow  in  right  away,  or  would  they 
have  to  wait  for  a  regular  time  ?  " 

"  They  begin  to  grow  immediately,  but  it  would  take 
three  months  before  the  quills  would  be  ready  to  shed 
again." 

"  I  should  think  if  they  ran  through  the  bushes  their 
quills  would  catch  in  everything  and  come  off,  and 
then  any  beast  could  kill  them  !  " 

"  But  they  seldom  run.  Did  you  ever  see  a  Porcu- 
pine run,  Olaf  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Blake. 

"  They  run,  sir  ;  but  not  so  fast  that  a  man  may  not 
overtake  them :  they  are  so  slow  and  stupid  that  it  is 
wonderful  any  yet  live.  Still  in  the  north  woods  they 
increase  more  and  more,  while  the  good  Deer  and  use- 
ful fur  beasts  are  seen  less  and  less." 

"  Do  you  remember  a  toy  dog  you  once  had,  Nat, 
that  could  be  wound  up  and  would  walk  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  only  he  didn't  walk  well,  and  after  a  min- 
ute or  two  he  couldn't  go  straight,  —  then  he  went 
very  slow  and  stopped." 

"  That  is  precisely  the  way  a  Porcupine  moves,  but 
even  up  in  the  pine  trees  where  he  spends  most  of  his 
time,  and  is  really  quite  an  acrobat  in  his  deliberate 
way,  he  goes  from  branch  to  branch  in  the  same  slow 
manner,  as  much  as  to  say :  '  Have  I  not  a  whole  regi- 
ment of  spearmen  on  my  back  to  protect  me  ?  My  time 
is  my  own  !  '  So  he  continues  to  crawl  about  chiefly 
at  night,  sometimes  stopping  to  croon  or  sing  to  him- 
self, and  is  really  a  very  unobjectionable  object,  unless 


164  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

you  happen  to  stumble  over  one  in  the  dark ;  and  people 
who  have  kept  them  in  cages  say  they  have  a  great 
many  interesting  ways." 

"  I  see  smoke  ;  Ave  are  nearly  at  camp,"  said  the 
Doctor ;  "  and  quite  time,  too,  both  my  feet  are  fast 
asleep.  What  shall  yon  do  with  the  horses,  Olaf  ?  It 
is  rather  too  chilly  to  pasture  them  in  the  snow." 

"  There  is  an  old  barn  here  below,  where  Nez  keeps 
his  cow  and  some  hay  ;  I'll  put  them  there  until  I  take 
you  down  again  to-morrow." 

Soon  they  turned  in  between  the  trees,  the  horses 
breaking  the  path.  Everywhere  about  were  the  foot- 
prints of  little  beasts,  and  in  a  few  minutes  they  came 
.to  Nez'  clearing.  There  was  no  outside  fire,  but  smoke 
and  sometimes  a  few  red  sparks  came  from  the  stone 
chimney  of  the  log  house. 

Nez  was  busy  at  his  work  in  the  shed,  which  he  had 
wholly  enclosed  with  boughs  and  bark;  the  boys  saw  at 
once  why  Olaf  said  he  had  a  "regular  fur  shop."  The 
place  was  lined  with  various  kinds  of  skins,  drying 
upon  all  sorts  of  stretchers,  and  more  were  stacked 
away  under  the  roof. 

"Want  to  know  !  "  said  Nez,  heartily,  coming  to  meet 
the  party,  followed  by  Stubble,  the  setter,  the  tame  Fox, 
who  now  wore  a  collar,  and  the  two  little  boys  who  had 
been  told  that  they  must  speak  up  and  be  polite.  They 
only  succeeded  far  enough  to  peep  and  stare  while  they 
held  tight,  each  to  one  of  their  father's  legs,  as  if  they 
thought  their  guests  Grizzly  Bears  or  Wildcats.  They 
wore  queer  peaked  homemade  caps  of  undyed  Muskrat 
fur,  and  short,  lambskin  jackets  with  the  wool  inside, 
looking  very  much  like  a  pair  of  captive  brownies. 


THE    WINTER    WOODS  165 

Nez  could  have  easily  bought  woollen  caps  and  coats 
for  them  in  the  Ridge  village,  but  he  loved  simple, 
wild  ways  and  things,  and  understood  the  turning  of  a 
skin  directly  into  a  coat  better  than  the  indirect  way  of 
first  changing  it  for  money  and  then  buying  the  needed 
garment. 

"  Step  right  in  by  the  fire,"  said  Nez,  leading  the 
way  to  the  cabin.  Then  for  the  first  time  the  boys 
realized  that  they  were  quite  cold,  —  the  excitement 
and  novelty  of  their  journey  had  kept  them  from  feel- 
ing it  before. 

The  cabin  was  very  warm,  for  two  fires  were  burn- 
ing in  a  space  that  was  scarcely  more  than  one  large 
room  divided  by  the  stone  chimney.  In  one  fireplace 
logs  were  blazing,  in  the  other  stood  a  small  sheet-iron 
stove,  upon  which  Toinette  was  preparing  dinner,  stir- 
ring something  with  a  wooden  spoon  that  yielded  a 
delicious  "  have-some-more  "  odor. 

"  Last  winter  we  had  a  regular  campfire  on  the 
ground  in  the  middle  and  just  a  roof  draught  for  the 
smoke,  but  we  get  too  much  rain  along  spring  and  fall 
in  these  parts  for  that  sort  of  chimney,  though  there's 
nothing  like  a  fire  where  you  can  sit  all  the  way 
around." 

"  Vill  you  now  eat  sometings,  m'sieurs  ? "  said 
Toinette,  hospitably,  making  a  gesture  toward  the 
plank  table,  which  they  then  noticed  was  set  with  an 
idea  of  festivity.  Ground  pine  hung  in  festoons  about 
the  edge  and  was  arranged  in  a  sort  of  mat  in  the 
centre,  figured  with  bunches  and  sprays  of  red  berries. 

"Yes,  better  feed  now,"  said  Nez,  "if  you  want  a 
little  sport  this  afternoon,  'cause  'long  about  dark  we 


166  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

must  get  after  that  Fox.  I've  took  a  day  off  and  Toi- 
nette's  brother  here  is  lookin'  after  my  traps." 

"  Isn't  it  a  holiday  every  day  up  here  in  the  woods  ?  " 
asked  Nat,  as  they  sat  down  and  Toinette  placed  before 
each  a  bowl  of  smoking  bean  soup  with  little  squares  of 
fried  bread  bobbing  about  in  it. 

"  I  reckon  not  !  What  made  you  think  that,  sonny  ? 
No  holidays  in  winter  for  a  man  who  tries  to  git  a 
livin'  in  the  woods  now'days.  It's  findin'  tracks  and 
settin'  traps  and  gittin'  the  right  bait  ;  then  goin' 
visitin'  the  traps  to  git  yer  property  before  a  Fox  or  a 
Weasel  helps  hisself  to  it,  or  it  spoils  so  the  pelt  is  no 
good.  If  it  snows  hard,  yer  traps  gets  buried  and 
sometimes  froze  in.  Then  there's  the  beasts  to  skin 
and  the  skins  to  cure,  and  the  charcoal  pit  to  mind,  and 
the  woodpile  to  keep  well  squared,  and  the  fire  to  keep 
burnin'.     No,  siree,  winter's  a  busy  time  !  " 

Rabbit  stew  followed  the  soup,  then  a  sort  of  pud- 
ding made  of  wild  apples  and  barberry  jam  sweetened 
with  molasses,  which  the  boys  thought  delicious. 

"  I  cannot  understand  where  you  get  so  many  pelts, 
Nez,"  said  Mr.  Blake.  "  I  thought  this  part  of  the 
country  was  skinned  out  years  ago." 

"  It  was,  and  there's  nothin'  here  for  folks  who  want 
to  get  things  by  the  lot ;  such  kind  did  what  they  could 
to  kill  off  the  beasts.  Now,  I've  read  the  signs  here- 
abouts, and  I  say  to  myself,  'you  may  take  so  many 
Coons,  and  Minks,  and  Skunks,  and  Foxes  every  winter 
and  not  kill  them  out,'  and  when  I  get  jest  that  many 
I  stop  and  let  "em  have  fair  play.  I  shall  stop  on 
Coons  this  week,  with  a  hundred  good  pelts  to  the 
better  ;  but  I'm  not  done  with  Foxes  yet,  there's  too 


THE    WINTER    WOODS  167 

many  o'  tliem  for  the  health  of  the  fowls  in  these 
parts." 

"  I  shouldn't  want  to  kill  a  pretty  little  beast  like 
this  ;  he  seems  quite  like  a  clog,"  said  Nat,  stroking 
the  pet  Fox  who  was  nosing  about  and  begging  for 
scraps. 

He  was  indeed  a  beauty,  with  his  fluffy,  reddish  yel- 
low fur,  line  dark  brush,  bright  eyes,  and  intelligent 
face.  lie  looked  so  innocent,  too,  not  as  if  he  could 
outwit  the  cleverest  of  House  People,  or  behead  the 
biggest  gander  in  the  flock  with  one  bite  of  his  little 
white  teeth. 

"  I  thought  you  didn't  like  Fox  hunting,  Uncle  Roy, 
and  thought  it  cruel,  and  yet  you  are  going  yourself 
to-night." 

"The  Fox  hunting  I  think  cruel  is  not  the  necessary 
and  quick  killing  of  a  mischievous  animal,  but  the  habit 
of  keeping  Foxes  in  what  you  might  call  a  tame  state, 
encouraging  them  to  breed  on  your  ground,  and  then 
turning  out  and  chasing  them  with  dogs  trained  for 
the  purpose,  and  when  the  poor  Fox  has  run  his  best 
and  is  spent  (the  longer  he  is  kept  going  the  better  the 
sportsmen  like  it),  the  dogs  are  allowed  to  tear  him  to 
pieces. 

"  The  fashion  of  chasing  any  four-footed  animal  with 
dogs  seems  to  me  no  sport.  Teaching  one  fourfoot  to 
tear  another  to  bits  is  barbarous,  according  to  my  way 
of  thinking.  Even  hunting  the  wild  Fox  Avith  dogs 
seems  a  waste  of  time,  since,  if  we  really  wish  to  destroy 
the  beast,  there  are  quicker  ways  of  doing  it  without 
putting  dogs  to  the  pain  of  such  tiresome  runs,  or  the 
Fox  through  an  agony  of  fear,  which,  to  such  an  intel- 


168  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

ligent  animal,  is  worse  than  even  the  lingering  death 
of  being  torn  to  bits." 

"  But  why  does  any  one  like  to  do  so  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  The  excuse  given  for  it  in  England  is  that  it  is  an 
historic  sport,  a  settled  custom,  that  it  makes  use  for  a 
line  race  of  horses, — hunters  as  they  are  called,  —  and  the 
exercise  makes  a  strong  race  of  people.  We  have  an 
unfortunate  habit  of  importing  customs  without  suffi- 
cient reason.  It  was  this  spirit  of  borrowing  that  gave 
us  the  English  Sparrow." 

"  Perhaps  they  will  stop  it  now  that  there  are  such 
fine  bicycles  to  exercise  with.  Don't  you  think  bicycles 
would  be  nice  things  to  make  Dodo  and  me  strong  and 
tender-hearted  ?  "  said  Nat,  so  innocently  that  he  was 
very  much  surprised  when  his  father  asked  if  he 
thought  his  stocking  would  hold  anything  as  large, 
and  what  make  he  preferred. 

"I  wasn't  fishing  for  one,"  he  hastened  to  explain, 
"  only  thinking  how  good  it  would  be  for  me,"  at  which 
his  father  and  uncle  burst  out  laughing. 

***** 

Presently  it  was  agreed  that  Rap  should  stay  at  home 
with  the  little  boys  and  Olaf,  who  Avas  to  finish  a  sort 
of  toboggan,  made  from  a  long  wide  board  which  he 
had  steamed  and  rolled  up  in  front  for  a  fender  and 
fastened  with  hide  thongs.  It  yet  remained  to  be  orna- 
mented by  a  picture  of  Olaf  s  painting. 

Mr.  Blake  was  interested  in  trying  on  a  pair  of  snow- 
shoes,  that  Nez  had  made  partly  for  old  times'  sake,  and 
partly  in  case  the  snow  should  be  so  deep  during  the 
winter  that  he  might  need  them  in  visiting  his  traps. 

The  Doctor  and  Nez  prepared  to  give  Nat  his  first 


THE    WINTER    WOODS  169 

taste  of  Rabbit  si  tooting,  and  soon  these  three,  accom- 
panied by  Stubble,  who  was  an  all-round  'hunting  dog, 
started  down  hill,  Nat  holding  the  little  shot-gun  in 
hands  that  trembled  with  excitement,  being  very  care- 
ful that  it  was  not  pointing  at  any  one,  even  though 
it  was  not  yet  loaded. 

The  afternoon  wore  away.  The  toboggan  was  decked 
with  a  picture  of  a  large  owl,  which  the  youngest  boy, 
Dominique,  insisted  should  have  a  red  ribbon  painted 
about  its  neck,  though  his  brother  Phonse  said  owls 
never  wore  such  things. 

Once  in  a  while  they  heard  a  shot,  but  it  was  very 
still  otherwise,  with  no  signs  of  animal  life  save  the 
pranks  of  a  pair  of  half-tame  Gray  Squirrels  who  came 
and  went  in  their  search  for  hidden  food.  The  moon 
shone  silver  white  before  the  sun  had  set,  and  the  two 
exchanged  greetings  while  they  struggled  with  some 
clouds  that  promised  more  snow  or  possibly  wind  and 
rain.  Presently  by  this  mixed  light  they  saw  Nat  com- 
ing up  the  slope  empty  handed  and  hurrying  ahead  of 
the  others. 

"Didn't  you  get  airy  thing?"  called  Rap.  "Didn't 
you  shoot  a  Rabbit?     Where  is  your  gun?  " 

"  No,  I  didn't ;  but  I  nearly  got  one.  It  didn't  see 
us  a  bit  and  was  sitting  up  nibbling  and  I  aimed  as  nice 
as  could  be,  —  just  as  Uncle  Roy  told  me,  with  the  gun 
against  my  shoulder  and  everything  quite  right,  —  when 
the  Rabbit  turned  round  and  stared  at  me,  and  some- 
how it  was  so  cunning  and  comfortable  and  seemed  to 
trust  me,  that  I  didn't  like  to  kill  it.  While  I  was 
thinking,  it  gave  a  couple  of  leaps  and  was  gone  ! 
Then  I  felt  dreadfully  foolish  !  " 


170  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

"  You  need  not  feel  foolish,"  said  his  father.  "  I 
would  much  rather  have  you  pity  the  Rabbit  than  bang 
away  recklessly,  with  '  blood  in  your  eyes,'  as  the  say- 
ing goes.  If  you  sometimes  put  yourself  in  the  place 
of  the  game  you  hunt,  you  will  never  become  a  '  Hunt- 
ing Wolf.1  But  what  is  that  animal  Nez  is  bringing?  — 
it  looks  like  a  Fox,  —  and  where  is  your  gun  ?  " 

Nat  hesitated  and  stammered  :  "  It  is  a  Fox,  the  bad 
Fox  that  ate  the  old  woman's  chickens,  —  the  one  that 
you  were  going  to  hunt  to-night.  I  shot  him,  but  it 
was  an  accident,  and  the  gun  bumped  me  dreadfully, 
and  uncle  is  angry  and  took  it  away." 

Then  Dr.  Hunter  and  Nez  came  up,  the  latter 
carrying  an  unusually  large  Fox  over  his  shoulder, 
which  he  laid  down  on  the  snow,  saying,  with  an  air  of 
satisfaction,  — 

"  Thar,  he'll  give  no  more  trouble  with  his  tricks, 
though  we  are  done  out  of  a  hunt,  unless  we  go  for 
Coons.  Look  at  him,  old  and  gray,  trap  marks  on  all 
four  legs,  and  three  toes  off  one  foot ;  no  wonder  we 
couldn't  snare  him." 

"  Nat  says  that  he  shot  him  and  that  you  are  vexed. 
How  did  it  happen  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Blake  of  the  Doctor, 
while  Olaf  drew  near,  eying  the  Fox  eagerly. 

"  Let  Nat  tell  his  own  story,"  said  the  Doctor. 

"  It  happened  this  way,"  began  Nat.  "  I  was  getting 
tired  and  cold.  Stubble  didn't  start  many  Rabbits,  so 
uncle  said  for  me  to  wait  a  little  Avhile  by  a  bunch  of 
hemlocks  that  kept  the  wind  off,  while  he  and  Nez 
would  go  around  the  hill,  and  then  if  they  found  no 
better  luck  we  would  go  home.     Then  —  " 

"  Yes,  but  what  else  did  I  tell  you  ?  " 


THE    WINTER    WOODS  171 

"  You  made  me  take  both  shells  out  of  the  gun,  and 
told  me  to  put  them  in  my  pocket,  and  — leave  — them  — 
there  — until  — you  -  came —back,"  said  Nat,  hesitating 
and  looking  very  much  as  if  he  wanted  to  cry,  which 
however  was  something  he  never  did. 

"  Please  don't  make  me  tell  any  more,"  he  begged, 
but  the  Doctor  motioned  for  him  to  go  on. 

"Then  —  then  I  waited  and  it  seemed  very  long,  and 
I  thought  I  would  practise  putting  the  shells  into  the 
gun  and  taking  them  out,  to  amuse  myself.  One  time, 
when  I  had  put  them  in  I  looked  up,  and  beyond  the 
hemlocks,  only  a  little  bit  away,  I  saw  something  come 
out  between  the  ground  and  some  rocks.  I  couldn't 
tell  exactly  what  sort  of  an  animal  it  was,  but  I  guessed 
it  was  a  Rabbit,  and  I  didn't  want  to  wait  until  it 
looked  at  me,  so  I  grabbed  the  gun  and  shot  it  off,  both 
barrels,  very  quick,  and  the  gun  knocked  me  over." 
Here  Nat  stopped  and  drew  a  long  breath,  as  if  he 
wanted  to  make  sure  he  could  breathe  again. 

"  Nez  and  uncle  came  running  back  and  thought  I 
was  hurt,  and  that  some  one  had  shot  me,  because  I  fell 
over  in  the  snow.  Then  they  found  the  Fox  not  far 
from  his  den,  and  he  was  mostly  dead." 

"  Why  did  the  gun  knock  you  over  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  You  see  I  was  in  such  a  hurry  I  couldn't  think,  and 
put  the  gun  against  the  front  of  me  where  I  breathe, 
instead  of  against  my  shoulder  !  " 

"  Oh  !  ho  !  "  said  Mr.  Blake,  "  I  begin  to  see  why 
your  uncle  was  vexed.  But  why  didn't  the  Fox  see  or 
smell  you,  I  wonder  ?  The  idea  of  an  old  timer  like 
that  escaping  traps  for  a  dozen  years  only  to  fall  a  vic- 
tim of  a  small  boy's  mistake." 


172  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

"  The  Fox  was  windward  of  Nat,  who,  as  he  says, 
must  have  shot  in  a  great  hurry  !  " 

"  It  was  fine  !  "  shouted  Rap.  "  Only  think,  Nattie, 
you've  shot  a  very  wicked  Fox,  and  you  can  have  the 
skin  to  make  a  rug  for  your  mother,  and  perhaps  she 
will  hang  it  in  Camp  Saturday  for  a  trophy  !  Please, 
why  was  it  wrong,  Dr.  Hunter?" 

"  For  this  reason.  Rap.  I  told  Nat  not  to  load  his 
gun  ;  he  disobeyed.  He  shot  at  something  without  be- 
ing sure  what  it  Avas  ;  it  happened  to  be  a  Fox,  but  it 
might  have  been  a  dog,  or  a  calf,  or  a  man  crawling  in 
the  brush  Every  year  dreadful  accidents  happen  and 
people  are  killed  and  maimed  for  life  because  sportsmen 
become  excited  and  mistake  a  man  for  a  Deer,  a  Bear, 
or  a  Fox,  and  all  the  excuse  they  have  is  that  it  was  a 
'mistake.1  People  who  can  make  such  mistakes  must 
not  handle  guns." 

The  boys  looked  so  very  sad  that  Mr.  Blake  said, 
"  I  think  Nat  has  learned  his  lesson  early  and  once  for 
all  ;  fortunately,  by  accident  his  accident  wasn't  an 
accident  after  all.  Did  you  say  your  feet  are  cold  ? 
T  think  we  had  better  all  go  into  the  cabin." 

"  They  were  very  cold  a  while  ago,  daddy,  for  my 
leggins  leaked  a  little  and  the  snow  got  in,  but  now 
they  feel  better,  or  rather  I  don't  feel  as  if  I  had  any 
feet.  I  think  it  would  be  nice  to  put  them  by  the 
fire." 

"  What !  no  feeling  in  them  ?"  exclaimed  the  Doctor. 
"  Nez,  bring  me  a  pan  of  snow  into  the  cabin,  and  off 
with  your  leggins,  my  boy.  No,  don't  go  near  the  fire, 
if  you  do  your  feet  will  swell  and  you  will  have  chil- 
blains every  winter  for —  I  don't  know  how  long." 


THE    WINTER    WOODS  173 

"  Oil,  uncle  !  that  will  make  my  feet  freeze  hard  !  " 
cried  Nat,  as  the  Doctor  began  to  rub  them  vigorously 
with  handfuls  of  snow. 

"  No,  it  won't,"  said  Rap,  consolingly,  "snow  draws 
the  cold  out ;  the  miller  used  often  to  rub  my  cheeks  and 
ears  with  snow  when  I  went  out  with  him  in  winter." 

In  a  few  minutes  Nat  said  the  feeling  was  coming 
back,  only  that  it  tickled  in  spots,  so  his  uncle  rolled 
him  in  a  blanket  and  dropped  him  into  the  bunk  filled 
with  hemlock  boughs  that  was  to  be  his  bed  later  on. 
There  he  lay  comfortably  watching  the  people  come 
to  and  fro,  and  the  preparations  for  supper.  He  was 
wondering  if  his  uncle  would  ever  let  him  have  the 
gun  again,  whether  the  men  would  go  Coon  hunting 
that  evening,  or  stay  at  home  and  tell  stories,  and  then 
he  fell  asleep. 

When  he  awoke  he  did  not  know  where  he  was  at 
first  ;  then  he  saw  the  supper  table  spread  by  the  fire- 
light, and  a  man,  Toinette's  brother,  by  the  open  door, 
who  called  to  Nez  :  "  Returned  am  I  in  the  good  time  ; 
there  was  much  fur  in  the  traps,  but  the  snow  comes, 
dat  vat  you  call  blinds,  —  ze  squall!"  He  heard  the 
Doctor  say  :  "  We  must  make  the  best  of  it  ;  no  Coons 
to-night.  It  is  a  good  chance  for  the  boys  to  hear  about 
the  little  fur  beasts  and  see  a  few  of  them."  Then 
Nat  remembered  where  he  was  and  scrambled  up  for 
supper. 


XIII 


NEZ   LONG'S    MENAGERIE 


NNING  so  many  animals  about 
the  camp  makes  a  great  many 
kinds  of  queer  smells, "  whis- 
pered Nat  to  Rap,  as  they  sat 
clown  to  their  supper  of  oat- 
meal porridge  and  coffee,  while 
Toinette  was  busy  frying 
something  in  a  deep  pan,  which 
needed  a  great  deal  of  turning. 
"The  smell  belongs  mostly  to 
Skunks,  for  I  noticed  that  Toinette's  brother  had  four 
or  five  among  the  other  fur  beasts  he  took  over  to  what 
Nez  calls  his  '  Menagerie,'  in  the  shed,  and  all  those 
other  animals  have  smells  of  their  own  beside.  I  won- 
der what  Toinette  is  cooking  ?  it  looks  something  like 
chicken,  but  it  isn't  quite  the  right  shape." 

"  Maybe  it  is  frogs'  legs  ;  we  used  to  have  them  often 
when  we  lived  in  the  city." 

Nez  soon  settled  the  question  by  calling,  "  Whoever 
wants  squirrel-leg  fry,  hand  up  his  dish  and  get  it 
right  from  the  pan,"  an  invitation  that  was  accepted  at 
once. 

"  What  becomes  of  the  rest  of  the  Squirrel  ?  "  asked 
Rap,  "  is  it  any  good  ?  " 

174 


NEZ  long's  menagerie  lib 

"All,  oui!  it  is,  raoii  enfant,  for  potage,  —  ze  stew 
you  call  him,"  said  Toinette,  putting  a  fresh  supply  of 
legs  into  the  pan. 

"Delicious  !"  said  the  Doctor.  "I  have  eaten  Squir- 
rel before,  but  it  never  tasted  like  this." 

"Spiled  in  the  cookin',"  said  Nez  ;  "easiest  beast 
there  is  to  spile,  but,"  giving  a  glance  full  of  pride  at 
Toinette,  "  the  woman  knows  jest  how  long  to  stew  'em 
first,  jest  how  long  to  fry,  and  jest  how  to  season,  and 
that's  the  whole  sense  of  cookin',  1  reck'n.  Why,  along 
four  years  ago  up  in  Canada  we  was  pushed  for  meat 
onct,  and  Toinette  she  cooked  up  a  fat  young  Porkipine 
so  you  couldn't  ha'  told  it  from  young  lamb,  —  yes, 
siree  !  " 

"  Didn't  you  have  an  awful  time  picking  the  quills 
out  ?  They  must  be  as  thick  as  feathers  on  a  chicken," 
said  Nat. 

"  They  only  grow  quills  on  their  backs,"  replied  Nez, 
"and  you  can  take  the  whole  skin  off  to  onct  without 
prickin'  a  finger,  if  you  slit  it  and  begin  underneath." 

"  Wasn't  it  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  take  off  all  the 
skins  of  the  little  fur  beasts  that  are  out  in  your  shed  ? 
Dodo  and  I  skinned  two  moles  a  while  ago  to  make  a 
muff  for  her  doll,  but  the  skins  tore  even  after  we  had 
rubbed  alum  on  them  and  waited  two  weeks  for  them 
to  dry.  Mole  skins  don't  smell  very  good  either,  but 
not  so  bad  as  Skunks." 

"  It's  easy  enough  to  skin  fur  beasts  if  you  don't 
wait  too  long,  but  some  things  hereabouts,  Squirrels  for 
instance,  that  have  nice-lookin'  fur,  are  of  no  account, 
because  their  skins  are  weak  like  your  mole's.  I'll  bring 
in  a  few  of  to-day's  batch  so  you  can  look  at  'em." 


176  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Uncle  Hoy,"  asked  Nat,  as  soon  as  Nez  went  out, 
"  why  do  the  fourf oots  smell  so  queerly,  when  birds  do 
not  ?  " 

"  Some  bird's  do,"  said  Rap.  "  Don't  yon  remember 
the  marsh  where  the  Herons  live  ?  " 

"  The  fourfoots  all  have  odors  that  vary  with  each 
species.  Heart  of  Nature  has  a  use  for  them  like  every- 
thing else  in  his  garden.  Birds  depend  upon  sight  and 
do  not  need  the  power  of  scent  to  guide  them  like  the 
fourfoots.  These,  though  they  all  have  voices  and  can 
make  sounds  of  pleasure  or  of  warning,  also  need  a  silent 
language  by  which  to  speak  to  one  another,  in  order 
that  they  may  leave  messages  where  absent  friends  can 
find  them  in  wood  and  runways,  as  House  People  use 
written  words.  It  is  for  this  purpose  that  the  power 
of  secreting  these  odors  has  been  given  the  fourfoots. 

"  This  arrangement  has  given  these  animals  very  keen 
noses,  upon  which  they  depend  far  more  than  on  their 
eyes  for  recognizing  either  friends  or  enemies.  It  is 
this  power  that  enables  every  animal  to  tell  whether  the 
beast  who  has  gone  over  a  trail  before  him  is  a  friend 
or  a  foe,  and  it  also  serves  as  a  weapon  of  defence,  for 
some  of  the  little  Mammals  taste  so  disagreeably  that 
their  cannibal  brothers  do  not  care  to  eat  them.  You 
know  that  the  Skunk  is  as  well  able  to  protect  himself 
from  his  big  brothers  by  his  odor  as  if  he  had  the  claws 
and  paws  of  a  Grizzly  Bear." 

"  Talkin'  uv  Skunks,  here's  a  fine  one,"  said  Nez, 
coming  in  with  half  a  dozen  little  animals  in  his  arms, 
and  holding  the  Skunk  by  the  tail  at  arm's  length. 

"  What  are  those  others  ?  "  asked  Rap,  recognizing 
some  unfamiliar  animals  in  the  heap. 


Common  Skunk. 


NEZ  long's  menagerie  177 

"There's  a  Mink,  a  Weasel,  and,  as  luck  turns,  an 
Otter.  We  don't  get  many  of  them  here,  though  they 
rove  about  so  I'm  never  surprised  to  see  a  few.  I've 
only  found  one  of  their  coasts  by  the  upper  pond." 

"  Coasts  !  what  do  you  mean  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  Why,  Otters  are  as  fond  of  sliding  down  hill  as  you 
are,  and  mud  makes  as  good  a  coast  for  them  as  snow, 
No,  I'm  not  jokin',  am  I,  Doctor  ?  " 

"  What  Nez  says  is  perfectly  true.  Let  me  show 
that  Otter  to  the  boys  and  I  will  explain." 

Nez  picked  up  an  animal  that  must  have  weighed 
twenty  pounds,  with  handsome  rich,  shaded  brown  fur, 
and  laid  it  on  the  floor  by  the  Doctor.  It  was  about 
two  feet  and  a  half  long  from  its  blunt  nose  to  the  root 
of  its  stout  tapering  tail.  Its  head  was  catlike,  with 
small  round  ears  and  bristly  mustaches,  its  legs  were 
short  and  ended  in  furry,  webbed  feet  with  stout 
claws. 

"  What  lovely  soft  under-fur,"  said  Rap,  parting  the 
long  glossy  outer  hairs  gently  with  one  hand,  "  and  it's 
all  over  him,  too,  even  on  his  tail." 

"  This  Otter  has  the  most  desirable,  also  the  finest, 
under-fur  of  almost  any  of  our  fourfoots,"  said  the  Doc- 
tor, "  and  like  the  Beaver  and  Muskrat  he  spends  a 
great  deal  of  his  time  in  and  about  the  water." 

"  Does  living  near  the  water  have  anything  to  do 
with  making  his  under-fur  so  thick  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"Very  probably  it  does,  the  soft  close  fur  being  made 
to  protect  the  body  from  becoming  water  soaked  ;  for 
the  Seal,  who  spends  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  the 
water,  has  the  same  wonderful,  close  under-coat,  and  the 
rare  Sea  Otter  also." 


178 


FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


"  Where  do  these  Otters  live,  what  kind  of  nests  do 
they  make,  and  do  they  belong  to  a  guild?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  They  haunt  wooded  places  near  water  ;  sometimes 
a  mother  Otter  makes  a  home  for  her  two  or  three 
young  in  a  hollow  stump,  or  else  in  a  hole  under  a  bank, 
scraping  a  few  leaves  together  as  a  bed.  It  is  always 
within  easy  distance  of  the  water,  where  the  fish,  upon 
which  they  feed,  can  be  caught,  for  they  belong  to  the 
guild  of  Flesh  Eaters  and  like  variety  in  their  animal 
food,  sometimes  helping  themselves  to  chickens  and 
small  game.  They  also  have  hiding-places  in  river 
banks  entered  by  a  hole  under  the  water. 

"  Otters  when  not  busy  hunting  food  are  very  play- 
ful animals,  and  one  of  their  chief  games  is  what  Nez 
calls  'coasting.'  In  summer  they  choose  a  smooth 
bank  stretching  toward  the  water  and  deliberately  lie 


Otter  and  Fisher. 


NEZ  LONG'S  MENAGERIE  179 

on  their  stomachs,  spread  out  their  hind  legs,  give  a 
push  and  slide  down  one  after  another,  plunging  into 
the  water  at  the  end,  only  to  land  again  at  a  suita- 
ble spot,  climb  up  hill  and  slide  once  more.  You  can 
imagine  that  a  slippery  mud-covered  coast  is  soon 
formed,  which  is  used  by  the  Otter  community.  When 
the  snow  is  deep,  they  make  similar  coasts  through  it 
down  toward  their  feeding  places,  and  they  may  then 
be  easily  tracked  when  on  their  excursions  about 
home. 

"  Then  they  don't  sleep  the  winter  sleep  ?  "  said  Rap. 
"  How  do  they  catch  fish  when  the  rivers  freeze  ?  " 

"They  are  on  the  watch  all  winter,  like  the  other 
members  of  the  family  of  little  fur  bearers,  or  Mustelidce, 
as  the  Wise  Men  call  them.  They  keep  their  fishing 
holes  open  through  the  ice,  and  these  holes,  as  well  as 
their  slides,  guide  people  in  trapping  them.  One  of 
the  most  likely  places  to  set  a  trap  is  in  a  slidevvay,  or 
fastened  securely  to  a  pole  under  the  Otter's  favorite 
fishing-hole. 

"  Why  do  they  catch  them  with  traps,  when  Nez 
says  it  is  so  much  trouble  to  bait  them  ?  Why  isn't  it 
easier  to  shoot  them  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  In  the  first  place  all  these  fur  fourfoots  prowl  about 
mostly  after  dark,  and  are  very  wild  and  so  keen  of 
scent  that  it  is  difficult  to  get  near  them,  while  at  best 
a  hunter  would  have  to  shoot  them  one  by  one,  and 
they  might  sink  under  the  ice  and  be  lost.  If  he  uses 
traps,  he  can  set  a  dozen  or  more  on  a  single  afternoon 
and  leave  them  to  do  their  own  work  in  the  night. 
There  is  another  reason,  too,  why  it  is  not  best  to  shoot 
them.     Can  either  of  you  guess  it  ?  " 


180  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Rap  answered  eagerly,  "  I  think  I  know.  It's  be- 
cause the  shot  might  make  a  great  many  holes  in  the 
skin  and  spoil  it." 

"  Yes,  that  is  the  reason.  Now  please  show  us  the 
Skunk,  Nez,  and  then  he  can  go  out  in  the  shed  and 
join  his  fellows ;  his  room  will  be  much  better  than  his 
company." 

"  I  think  the  smell  of  it  is  making  my  head  ache," 
said  Nat. 

"  We  will  hurry,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  for  this  Common 
Skunk  is  a  very  disagreeable  animal  in  many  ways. 
You  see,  he  is  a  full  foot  shorter  than  the  Otter,  and 
though  he  has  a  tail  as  plumy  as  a  fountain,  glossy 
black  fur  with  white  head  and  back  bands,  his  face 
is  sly  and  narrow,  wearing  a  snappish  look,  and  people 
say  that  a  bite  from  his  pointed  teeth  may  carry  hydro- 
phobia with  it. 

"  He  is  a  bold  animal,  too,  and  whether  he  goes  to  the 
chicken  house  to  choose  his  supper,  or  prowls  around 
the  refuse  pails  outside  some  camp,  he  is  not  inclined 
to  hurry.  Full  well  he  knows  the  power  of  the  blind- 
ing, scalding  liquid  which  is  his  weapon,  and  animals, 
that  could  tear  him  to  bits  without  the  least  trouble, 
pretend  not  to  see  him  and  keep  their  distance.  So 
fearless  are  Skunks  that  a  pair  often  take  up  their 
abode  under  a  barn  or  even  a  piazza,  and  the  little 
Skunks  play  about  and  are  sometimes  petted  as  harm- 
less kittens  by  the  children,  until  one  day  the  illusion 
is  suddenly  broken." 

"  I  should  think  it  would  be  better  if  they  were  all 
killed  out,"  said  Rap. 

"  Remember  their  fur,  and  that  they  earn  their  living 


Little  Striped  Skunk. 


NEZ  LONG'S  MENAGERIE  181 

by  eating  mice  and  nuisance  animals,  as  well  as  grass- 
hoppers and  other  insects." 

"  I  never  heard  of  Skunk  fur  when  I  lived  in  the 
city,"  said  Nat. 

"  No,  but  you  have  heard  of  Alaska  Sable,  which  is 
the  name  it  uses  when  it  puts  away  its  evil  odor  and 
goes  in  polite  society." 

"  You  called  this  one  the  Common  Skunk.  Are  there 
any  uncommon  ones  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  There  are  quite  a  number  of  species,  but  they  are 
all  common  somewhere.  The  oddest  of  all  is  the  Little 
Striped  Skunk  who  lives  in  the  more  southern  parts  of 
the  country,  from  Florida  across  to  the  Plains.  He  is  a 
weasel-shaped  little  piece  of  impudence,  with  a  white 
spot  on  his  forehead,  all  the  rest  of  his  body  and  tail 
plume  being  so  striped  that  you  can  never  say  if  he  is 
black  and  white  or  white  and.  black,  or  both  ;  he  might 
be  a  toy  animal  made  of  strips  of  black  and  white  flan- 
nel. Black  and  white  is  a  rare  combination  for  the  coat 
of  a  fourfoot.  None  of  our  f ourf oots  are  bright-colored, 
and  there  are  very  few  such  in  any  country.  Usually 
the  color  of  an  animal  is  arranged  to  blend  with  his 
surroundings  and  protect  him  from  his  enemies.  Some- 
times, however,  Nature  wishes  to  give  an  animal  a  strik- 
ing coat  that  will  be  seen  by  others  and  warn  them  to 
keep  away  from  him,  and  the  Skunks  wear  coats  of  this 
kind.  They  prowl  about  chiefly  at  dusk  or  after  dark. 
Have  you  ever  noticed  how  clearly  anything  white, 
however  small,  shows  at  night?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  have  often,"  said  Rap.  "  In  spring  when 
all  the  snow  has  gone,  except  little  bits  under  the  fences, 
you  can  see  it  ever  so  far  away,  and  sometimes  when 


182  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

the  fine  handkerchiefs  mother  washes  blow  away  down 
the  field,  I  can  find  them  in  the  darkest  night." 

"  Then  you  can  understand  that  the  Skunk,  who  is 
sufficiently  protected  by  his  evil  odor,  may  wear  this 
striped  flag  to  warn  other  animals  not  to  come  upon 
him  too  suddenly.  Here,  Nez,  kindly  take  this  fur- 
covered  sachet  away ;  the  boys  will  not  forget  how  he 
looks,  I'm  sure." 

"  Skunks  are  full  of  play  and  tricks,  if  they  do  smell 
a  bit  rank,"  said  Nez,  as  he  returned,  followed  by  Mr. 
Blake.  "  I've  kept  young  uns  round  camps  where  I've 
been,  and  they're  good  eatin',  too,  if  they  are  killed  out- 
right and  skinned,  —  no,  you  needn't  whistle,  Mr.  Blake, 
I've  often  broiled  'em  like  tender  spring  chickens.  They 
are  stupid,  too,  and  if  you  put  a  trap  in  the  runway 
from  their  holes  to  the  water,  they'll  be  sure  to  get  into 
it,  and  seein'  one  caught  doesn't  prevent  his  neighbor 
from  walkin'  straight  over  him  into  another  trap." 

"Do  they  stay  out  all  winter  like  the  Otters?  "  asked 
Nat. 

"  That  depends  on  the  place  and  the  weather.  About 
here  they  keep  lively  right  along,  but  further  north 
they  may  den  up  for  a  bit  the  coldest  part  of  the  sea- 
son. But  take  these  other  two,  the  Weasel  and  Mink, 
they  are  lively  most  of  the  time." 

"What  an  ugly-looking  little  beast  a  Weasel  is," 
said  Nat,  taking  the  slender  animal,  which  was  about  a 
foot  long,  in  his  hand.  "  Rod  caught  ever  so  many 
around  the  chicken  house  last  summer,  but  they  were 
brown  and  not  a  sort  of  dirty  white  like  this  one,  and 
it  has  a  black  tip  to  its  tail.  Do  they  moult  out  in 
autumn,  Nez  ?  " 


NEZ   LONG'S  MENAGERIE 


183 


"  I  reckon  they  do,  for  they  get  whitish  all  the  same 
as  the  Northern  Hare,  and  when  they  are  real  white 
folks  calls  'em  Ermines.  When  they  come  from  far 
north  countries,  where  it  is  cold  enough  to  make  them 
a  good  clear  white,  they  are  worth  a  lot  of  money  for 
their  fur.  But  down  here  they're  no  good.  This  one 
strayed  into  a  trap  I  set  for  Mink  ;  it's  one  of  their 
bothersome  tricks  to  push  themselves  into  the  place  of 


Weasel  or  Ermine  in  Winter  Dress. 

their  betters.  See,  this  fur  is  a  mussy  color,  and  fur- 
ther south  they  don't  change  hardly  any." 

"  Rod  says  Weasels  are  very  bad  things  and  no  better 
than  rats." 

"  They  are  much  worse  than  rats,"  said  the  Doctor. 
"  In  fact,  they  are  the  most  malicious,  blood-thirsty,  and 
wasteful  of  all  our  fourfoots.  They  are  all  the  time 
breaking  Heart  of  Nature's  law,  '  Take  what  ye  need 
for  food,'   killing  merely  for  the  pleasure   of  it,   and 


184  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

only  taking  a  suck  of  blood  here  and  a  l>ite  of  flesh 
there. 

"  The  Weasel  twists  and  winds  its  supple  body  into 
holes  where  nothing  but  a  snake  could  follow,  now 
writhing  along  as  if  it  had  no  legs,  then  stretching  its 
neck  and  peering  round  with  the  wagging  head  and 
wicked  eyes  of  a  Cobra.  He  devours  mice,  and  sharp- 
toothed  rats  tremble  before  him.  If  he  could  learn  to 
forsake  bird-nesting  and  chicken-killing  and  wreak  his 
love  of  slaughter  on  the  '  nuisance  animals,'  he  might 
easily  cease  being  the  worst  of  nuisances  himself." 

"  This  Mink  looks  a  good  deal  like  the  Weasel,"  said 
Rap,  "  except  that  it  is  longer  and  not  half  so  snaky. 
It  is  a  nice  brown,  too,  like  mother's  muff  that  father 
brought  her  from  New  York  long  ago  when  I  was  a 
baby,  and  that  she  keeps  done  up  in  his  silk  handker- 
chief in  a  bandbox." 

"  It  doesn't  smell  very  nicely,"  said  Nat,  "  though  not 
so  badly  as  the  Skunk.  Is  it  a  fierce,  wicked  beast, 
too?" 

"  For  steady-goin'  mischief  the  Mink  is  only  about 
two  steps  behind  the  Weasel,"  broke  in  Nez.  "  The 
Weasel  is  freaky  ;  he'll  do  a  lot  of  mischief  in  one 
place,  and  then  take  himself  off  for  a  long  spell ;  but 
the  Mink  noses  out  a  fine  hen  roost  and  then  settles 
down  under  a  shed  near  by  to  enjoy  himself." 

"  If  it's  in  May,"  added  the  Doctor,  "  half  a  dozen 
little  Minks,  hairless  and  blind  at  first,  may  be  hidden 
in  the  feather-lined  nest,  and  many  a  choice  morsel  will 
be  brought  them  before  they  are  fully  grown  in  au- 
tumn, and  leave  their  mother  to  start  life  for  them- 
selves.    Day  and  night  Minks  go  hunting  and  fishing 


NEZ   LONG'S  MENAGERIE 


185 


fife       '  j|h  f 

jreV&t£iBr"   .^^ 

~- 

-^IS 

H9 

KrV'  j4^i^l 

■eL              tBeis* 

S^bIK 

The  Mink. 


too,  sometimes  catching  animals  twice  their  own  size  ; 
now  a  Muskrat,  then  a  Hare,  a  Grouse,  or  a  fine  Trout, 
for  the  Mink  is  as  much  at  home  in  the  water  as  a 
Muskrat,  swimming  and  diving  easily.  "  Thus  we  find 
him  everywhere,  not  only  in  all  the  temperate  parts  of 
the  country,  but  in  all  sorts  of  places,  from  the  banks 
of  lonely  watercourses  to  a  burrow  under  the  cow 
barn." 

"  It  seems  very  queer  that  mother's  muff  once  went 
sneaking  and  tramping  all  over  the  country,"  said 
Rap. 

"  If  Dodo  knew  about  Minks,  and  how  savage  they 
are,  I'm  sure  she  would  be  afraid  of  her  little  tippet 
with  the  head  and  claws.     I  never  thought  before  how 


186  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

all  our  fur  things,  caps  and  mittens  and  gloves,  once 
walked  about.  I  wish  they  could  tell  us  stories  about 
themselves." 

"  I  know  a  story  a  sealskin  jacket  told  me  once  upon 
a  time,"  said  Olaf,  who  had  been  sitting  quietly  by  the 
fire  smoking  his  pipe. 

"  A  real  true  story,  and  will  you  tell  it  to  us  some 
day?" 

"  Surely,  yes,  and  some  day  soon,  for  it  is  a  winter 
story." 

"  Come,  don't  go  floating  up  the  Pacific  to  the  fur 
islands  after  Seals  yet  awhile,"  said  the  Doctor.  "  There 
is  one  more  important  fur  beast,  almost  as  large  as  the 
Otter,  but  it  is  not  found  as  far  south  as  here.  He 
loves  the  dark  pine  forests  that  furnish  him  good  shel- 
ter, as  well  as  a  playground,  for  he  spends  most  of  his 
time  in  the  trees,  even  making  his  nest  in  a  tree  hole 
in  preference  to  the  ground." 

"  What  is  he  called  ?  "  asked  Rap.  "  Is  there  a  pict- 
ure of  one  at  home  ?  " 

"  Yes,  and  you  will  find  that  he  looks  something  like 
a  cat,  and  something  like  a  Fox.  In  the  woods  and  in 
books  his  name  is  Pine  Marten,  or  American  Sable. 
When  he  is  turned  into  muffs  and  collars,  he  has  a 
grander  name  yet,  —  Hudson's  Bay  Sable.  He  has  a 
very  handsome  coat,  and,  like  most  of  his  tribe,  the  fur 
is  finest  at  the  beginning  of  winter.  He  has  not  only 
under-fur,  but  two  kinds  of  outer  as  well,  and  his  back 
is  a  handsome  mellow  shade  of  brown,  in  contrast  to  his 
dark  tail,  which  is  especially  valuable." 

"Is  the  Pine  Marten  a  chicken  thief,  too,  like  the 
Weasel  and  Mink  ?  "  asked  Rap. 


Pine  Marten  and  Red  Squirrel. 


NEZ  long's  men  a  gebie  187 

"  I  dare  say  lie  would  eat  chickens  if  they  came  in  his 
way,  but  he  does  not  care  to  stay  about  farms,  and 
lives  on  Squirrels,  birds,  and  many  of  the  smaller 
nuisance  animals,  and  when  driven  to  it  he  will  eat 
even  beechnuts. " 

"  My,  though  !  if  those  Martins  ain't  got  tempers  !  " 
said  Nez.  "  And  don't  they  jest  fight  fierce  when 
once  they  start  !  I  saw  one  kill  a  Rabbit ;  it  wasn't 
satisfied  with  killin',  but  went  on  and  tore  and  clawed 
and  chawed  it  all  to  bits. 

"You  should  see  'em  try  to  ketch  Squirrels,"  he  con- 
tinued. "  Martins  likes  to  git  up  in  a  tree  and  drop 
down  suddent  on  their  prey.  That  evenin'  a  nice,  big 
Red  Squirrel  was  setting  on  a  pine  branch  with  his 
back  to  the  tree,  takin'  a  nap,  though  I  suspect  he  was 
more  awake  than  he  seemed.  Along  comes  the  Martin 
down  from  the  tree-top,  peerin'  this  way  and  that, 
lookin'  to  make  an  easy  drop.  There  wuz  a  branch 
crosswise  above  the  Squirrel  and  the  Martin  he  couldn't 
manage  the  jump  anyhow.  Then  he  began  to  spit  and 
cuss  and  snarl  like  mad,  but  the  Squirrel  never  budged. 
He  stopped  still  until  the  Martin  went  over  to  try 
another  side,  then  opened  his  eyes,  gave  a  big  jump, 
and  was  off  chatterin'  like  a  watchman's  rattle. 

"  There's  another  Martin  I've  trapped  out  in  the 
Northwest,  that's  every  bit  as  big  as  an  Otter  and 
swims  and  fishes  like  one,  for  which  reason  some  folks 
calls  it  a  Fisher,  and  some  a  Black  Cat  Martin,  though 
they  are  as  much  gray  as  black,  and  their  legs  and  tails 
are  brown,  and  they  looks  something  like  a  little,  lanky, 
long-tailed  Bear.  This  Fisher  will  eat  any  mortal  thing, 
from  one  of  its  own  family  to  a  snake  or  a  Porkipine. 


188  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

How  it  manages  to  kill  that  I  never  could  see,  though 
I  found  quills  stuck  all  over  a  Fisher  inside  and  out." 

"  People  who  know,  say  the  Fisher  has  the  knack  of 
killing  the  Porcupine  by  biting  him  in  the  stomach, 
where  he  is  poorly  protected,"  said  the  Doctor.  "I 
think  he  is  quite  clever  enough  to  do  this,  for  he  man- 
ages to  take  the  bait  out  of  almost  any  trap,  as  you  and 
Olaf  must  know  by  experience,  and  hides  his  nest  high 
up  in  a  tree  hollow  as  wisely  as  an  owl." 

;;  For  stealin'  bait  and  traps,  or  makin'  a  general 
rumpus,  I  recommend  the  Wolf  Martin  !  "  said  Nez, 
with  feeling. 

"  I  suppose  you  mean  the  Wolverine,  or  Glutton, 
names  he  gets  for  his  fierceness  and  supposed  endless 
appetite,"  said  the  Doctor. 

"  That's  he  every  time,"  said  Nez,  striking  his  fist 
on  his  knee.  "  If  yer  can  pack  more  wickedness  and 
real  thinkin'  mischief  into  a  beast  not  over  three  feet 
long,  with  paws  and  claws  like  a  Bear,  and  a  face  like 
a  Bear,  a  Fox,  and  a  Wolf  all  mixed  into  one,  show  me 
that  beast  !  " 

"  What  kind  of  fur  does  he  wear  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  Brown,  of  as  many  different  shades  as  the  mottles 
on  a  horse-chestnut,"  said  the  Doctor  ;  "  the  under-fur 
being  short  and  very  soft,  and  the  outer  about  four 
inches  long,  wiry  and  shaggy.  The  soles  of  his  feet 
even  are  so  hairy  that  the  footprints  look  almost  like 
those  of  small  Bears." 

"  Why  do  you  call  him  such  a  wicked  beast,  Nez  ?  " 
asked  Rap. 

"  Well,  I  reckon  I've  good  reason.  In  the  first  place 
he  kills  anything  that  comes  along,  from  a  mouse  up 


NEZ    LONG   S  MENAGERIE 


189 


to  a  Deer  that's  been  wounded  or  gone  lame.  He  gets 
most  of  his  game  by  sneakin'  or  droppin'  on  it,  for  he 
isn't  a  fast  runner.  But  what's  worst  about  him  is, 
he's  the  biggest  meddler  on  four  legs.  If  a  pair  of  'em 
gits  around  camp  when  the  men  are  off,  good- by  to  the 
outfit.  Fust  they'll  eat  everything  they  can  hold,  then 
they'll  amuse  themselves  by  clawin'  the  rest  or  carry  in' 


Wolverine. 

things  away  and  scatterin'  'em.  As  trap  spoilers  they 
beats  the  record,  —  deadfalls  or  spring  traps  are  all 
the  same,  they'll  get  the  bait  without  being  caught,  and 
most  likely  spoil  the  trap  beside." 

"  What  is  a  deadfall  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  A  kind  of  a  trap  that  is  often  made  by  digging  a 
hole  and  putting  bait  in  and  then  covering  it  up  with 
sticks  and  logs,  so  when  the  beast  you  want  to  catch, 
smells  the  bait  and  hunts  for  it,  he  falls  into  the  trap, 


190  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

or  the  log  falls  and  shuts  him  in  ;  they  are  used  for  all 
sorts  of  beasts  from  Martens  to  Bears,"  said  the  Doctor. 

"  Ah,  I  see  !  A  deadfall  is  a  place  that  if  you  fall 
into  you  die.  Do  House  People  ever  fall  into  these 
things  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sometimes,  unfortunately,  and  in  his  knack  at 
keeping  out  of  danger  this  Wolverine  shows  even  more 
ingenuity  than  man  himself." 

"  You  have  no  Coons  now  ?  I'm  sorry,  I  wanted  Nat 
to  see  one  so  he  would  recognize  it  if  he  should  come 
across  it  in  the  home  woods." 

"  Nez  !  uncle  !  daddy  !  Look  quick,  one  of  the 
beasts  has  come  to  life  and  has  climbed  up  that  beam 
by  the  chimney,"  whispered  Nat,  suddenly  jumping  up 
and  getting  behind  his  father. 

"  Speaking  of  Coons,  there  is  one  now,"  said  the 
Doctor.  "  Is  that  a  camp  pet  or  a  visitor  from  the 
woods  ?  " 

"  He's  a  pet,"  said  Nez.  "  He  belongs  to  Dom'nik 
and  the  Fox  to  Phonse ;  we  took  him  last  May  from  an 
old  tree  over  by  the  pit,  when  we  were  cuttin'  poplars 
for  charcoal.  Keep  still  and  maybe  he'll  come  down 
and  play  with  Foxey  —  he  does  sometimes." 

The  boys  watched  quietly  for  a  few  minutes.  At 
first  the  Coon,  or  Raccoon  as  he  is  really  named,  sat  up 
with  his  paws  folded  like  hairy  hands  and  watched 
them.  He  was  about  two  feet  and  a  half  high,  his 
body  was  covered  with  wonderfully  soft,  deep,  brindled 
Woodchuck-colored  fur,  and  the  round  tail  that  hung 
nearly  a  foot  below  the  beam  was  banded  with  gray 
and  black.  His  bright  eyes  and  pointed  face  wore  an 
expression  of  innocence,  and  yet  of  great  intelligence 


NEZ  LONG  'S  MENAGERIE  191 

also,  that  closely  resembled  the  Fox's  who  was  sitting 
under  the  table  looking1  up  at  him. 

Presently  Mr.  Coon  came  deliberately  down  to  the 
floor,  ambled  on  all  fours  to  the  table  with  the  awkward 
gait  of  his  big  cousin,  the  Bear,  climbed  on  top  and 
began  tasting  the  various  scraps  of  food  that  remained, 
using  his  fore  paws  exactly  like  hands. 

The  Fox  came  from  under  the  table  and  sat  up  on 
the  broad  bench  sniffing  anxiously.  The  Coon  paid  no 
attention  to  him,  but  picked  up  a  piece  of  bread,  jumped 
off  the  table,  dipped  the  bread  in  the  water  pail,  ate  it, 
took  a  scrap  of  meat,  washed  it  also  and  then  gave  it  to 
the  Fox,  with  all  the  quickness  and  intelligence  of  a 
monkey,  and  then  began  washing  more  bread  for  him- 
self. 

The  boys  could  keep  quiet  no  longer. 

"  Why  does  he  wash  the  bread  ?  "  asked  Nat  aloud. 

At  this  the  Coon  retired  to  his  beam,  pushing  the 
last  bit  of  bread  into  his  mouth  with  one  paw. 

"  Washing  their  food  is  a  great  habit  of  Raccoons," 
said  Mr.  Blake.  "  I've  seen  hundreds  of  them  down 
about  the  southern  lagoons,  and  they  bathe  and  swim 
and  paddle  about  the  water,  poking  under  stones  for 
crayfish,  mussels,  and  little  crabs,  half  the  night.  In 
fact,  the  last  half  of  the  Latin  name  the  Wise  Men  give 
them,  lotor,  refers  to  this  washing  habit  of  theirs. 

"You  should  see  them  scampering  round  by  moon- 
light, like  a  parcel  of  monkeys  at  play.  Down  they 
come  from  the  high  trees  where  they  have  their  nest 
holes,  splashing  over  the  lily  pads  and  sliding  into  the 
water.  They  are  fond  of  everything  eatable,  from  crabs 
to  sweet  corn,  and  often  fall  victims  to  this  love  of  the 


192  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

cornfields.  An  autumn  Coon  hunt  was  one  of  the 
events  of  the  year  on  the  old  plantations,  and  it  is  not 
yet  out  of  style." 

"  Mammy  Bun  says  Coon  hunting  is  fine  sport,"  in- 
terrupted Nat.  "  She  says  the  men  go  out  with  dogs 
and  axes  and  chase  the  Coons,  and  they  generally  run 
up  a  tree,  and  then  if  the  men  can't  shake  the  Coon  out 
of  the  tree,  they  cut  it  down  and  let  the  dogs  fight  the 
Coon  and  shake  it  to  death.  I  think  that  is  a  cruel 
way  to  kill  such  a  pretty  fourfoot." 

"  I  quite  agree  with  you,"  said  the  Doctor ;  "  it  is 
even  more  unnecessary  than  allowing  the  Fox  to  be 
torn  to  bits  after  he  has  run  his  best;  for  though  the 
Coon  is  very  bright  in  some  ways,  he  can  be  easily 
trapped  and  the  Fox  cannot." 

"Everyone  is  sleepy,"  said  Rap,  presently;  "the 
Coon  has  gone  to  sleep,  and  the  Fox  too,  all  curled  up 
like  a  dog,  and  Olaf  will  nod  himself  into  the  fire  in 
another  minute." 

"  I  think  you  and  Nat  had  better  climb  into  your 
bunk  in  the  corner  and  join  them  in  dreamland,"  said 
the  Doctor.  "  You  see  Toinette  and  the  little  boys  have 
disappeared  under  their  blankets  in  the  other  room." 

"  The  snow  has  stopped  falling  and  the  wind  is  drift- 
ing it  around  at  a  great  rate,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  opening 
the  door  as  he  spoke,  when  a  great  whirl  of  snowflakes, 
like  the  branch  of  a  fairy  tree,  slipped  past  him  into  the 
cabin  and  turned  to  drops  of  water  on  the  boards. 
"  Suppose  we  take  a  mouthful  of  air  before  Ave  turn  in. 
Nez,  we  will  go  with  you  to  put  the  Fox  and  the  Coon 
in  their  pens,  and  see  if  your  fur  shop  is  safe." 


The  Raccoon. 


NEZ  LONG'S  MENAGERIE  193 

"We  can't  undress  very  much,"  said  Nat,  beginning 
and  ending  by  taking  off  his  shoes,  "so  it  will  be  real 
easy  dressing  in  the  morning,  and  I  want  to  see  the 
Porcupine  that  is  over  in  the  shed  the  first  thing. 
Don't  go  to  sleep  yet,  Rap,  1  won't  be  a  minute."  Rap, 
however,  was  asleep  the  moment  he  sank  between  the 
new  red  blankets,  —  a  present  from  Mrs.  Blake  to  Toi- 
nette,  —  that  covered  the  armful  of  hemlock  branches 
that  served  as  a  mattress. 

The  men  came  back,  went  to  bed  and  to  sleep,  and 
soon  the  wind  outside  was  the  only  sound,  while  occa- 
sional flashes  from  the  smouldering  log  fire  kept  the 
cabin  cheerfully  light. 

For  some  strange  reason  Nat  could  not  sleep;  he 
dozed  a  dozen  times  ;  then  the  wind  whistled  between 
the  logs  of  the  cabin  and  he  started  up  again.  Once  he 
saw  a  couple  of  mice  chasing  each  other  about  the 
hearth,  then  a  shadow  moved  along  the  roof  timbers. 
Was  it  the  Coon  ?  No,  for  both  Coon  and  Fox  had 
been  taken  to  their  sleeping-quarters  in  the  shed. 

Nat  looked  again  ;  the  shadow  grew  deeper,  took  a 
solid  form,  and  dropped  to  the  floor.  An  extra  bright 
flash  from  the  fire  showed  him  what  looked  like  a 
bundle  of  some  white-tipped  fur.  The  mysterious 
thing  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  an  animal  —  a 
Porcupine  !  He  could  see  its  eyes  glitter  as  it  moved 
awkwardly  across  the  floor  to  the  very  corner  where 
he  was  lying. 


XIV 

FOXES   AND   SNOW-SHOES 

,EERING  out  and  very  much  frightened, 

at  first  Nat  was  going  to  call,  then  he 

|S||     thought  that  perhaps  he  might  startle 

III1L-    the  Porcupine  and  make  him  angry, 

I   W      so  he  staid  quite  still  waiting  to  see 

mw       what  would   happen.     Everything  was 

painfully  quiet ;    why  did  not  one  of  the 

others   wake    up?      Even    a   snore    would   have 

sounded  companionable. 

The  Porcupine  ambled  toward  the  bunk,  but 
stopped  by  one  of  the  posts  that  supported  it  and  began 
to  gnaw  with  his  strong,  sharp-cutting  teeth.  Next  he 
sampled  all  four  legs  of  the  table,  then  went  to  the 
water  pail  ;  he  seemed  to  scent  the  tracks  of  the  Coon 
and  Fox  and  crouched  in  a  heap  with  his  quills  bristling 
on  his  back  and  his  tail  ready  to  strike.  Finding  that 
he  was  not  disturbed,  he  began  walking  about  again, 
finally  climbing  up  to  a  log  that  ran  across  the  face  of 
the  chimney,  quite  near  the  roof. 

In  spite  of  feeling  a  trifle  afraid,  Nat  could  not  help 
noticing  how  easily  the  Porcupine  climbed  and  swung 
himself  about,  but  when  the  animal  had  settled  himself 
comfortably  on  the  beam,  something  happened  that  was 
so  strange  that  Nat  first  rubbed  his  eyes  to  be  sure  that 

194 


FOXKS  AND   SNOW-SHOES  195 

lie  was  really  awake,  and  then  managed  to  wake  Rap 
to  share  in  his  astonishment.  The  Porcupine  was 
singing  ! 1 

"  What  is  it,  and  where  did  it  come  from?  "  whispered 
Rap,  only  dimly  conscious  of  where  he  was, 

Nat  whispered  back  all  he  knew  of  the  matter. 

"•It  must  be  the  tame  Porcupine  from  the  shed  that 
crept  out  when  Nez  went  to  put  back  the  Fox  and  the 
Coon,"  said  Rap,  who  was  quick  to  draw  conclusions, 
"  so  I  don't  think  hell  hurt  us  ;  but  I  never  knew  be- 
fore that  they  could  sing  like  that  !  " 

The  Porcupine's  song,  was  indeed  very  strange.  At 
first  it  sounded  like  a  particularly  happy  tea  kettle, 
abrim  with  boiling  water  ;  then  it  began  to  rise  and 
fall,  having  some  quite  musical  notes,  finally  dying 
away,  blending  with  the  whistling  of  the  wind. 

By  this  time  somebody  stirred  in  the  opposite  corner. 
Nez  tumbled  up,  Avith  the  instinct  of  a  woodsman,  to 
put  more  wood  on  the  fire,  so  that  Nat  ventured  to  call 
his  father. 

"A  Porcupine!  Nonsense!  Where?"  shouted  Mr. 
Blake,  not  over  willing  to  come  out  of  his  blankets. 

"  The  stories  in  your  head  and  the  fried  Squirrel  in 
your  stomach  have  made  a  plan  between  them  to  give 
you  some  dreams  !  " 

"  Really  no,  daddy,  Rap  is  awake  and  has  seen  it  too, 
and  we've  heard  it  sing.  Oh,  be  careful,  it's  coming 
down  again!  " 

Every  one  was  awake  now.  Toinette  and  the  little 
boys  peeped  in  from  their  part  of  the  cabin,  Nez  lighted 

1  The  author  is  indebted  to  Mr.  Abbott  H.  Thayer  and  Dr.  E.  A. 
Mearns  for  information  regarding  the  habits  of  Porcupines. 


196  FOUR-FOOTED  A2IERICANS 

a  lantern,  the  Doctor  began  pulling  on  his  boots,  while 
Olaf  took  a  long  pole  belonging  to  an  eel  spear  from 
the  corner. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do,  kill  him?  "  asked  Rap 
"  Oh,  now  he's  up  on  the  table  !  " 

"  No,  put  him  in  this  bag,"  said  Nez,  taking  an  old 
meal  sack  from  under  his  bunk.  "  The  only  way  to 
catch  one  of  these  critters  alive  without  wishin'  him 
dead  is  to  poke  him  off  somewhere  into  something. 
So  " —  Scratch,  Push,  and  after  a  short  struggle  the  dis- 
turber, making  queer  faces  all  the  while,  was  securely 
bagged  and  the  cabin  retired  to  sleep  again,  while  the 
Porcupine  spent  the  night  under  the  table,  too  much 
disgusted  by  the  small  size  of  his  quarters  to  give 
another  concert. 

***** 

It  was  still  dark  the  next  morning  when  the  boys 
smelled  coffee  boiling.  Other  things  beside  the  early 
hour  contributed  to  the  darkness,  —  the  windows  were 
small  and  few  at  best,  and  the  panes  were  turned  into 
ground  glass  by  the  heavy  coating  of  frost.  The  pail  of 
cold  water  did  not  make  bathing  seem  attractive  to  Nat, 
who  edged  away  from  it,  saying  that  he  had  not  brought 
a  sponge;  but  Rap,  who  was  used  to  rough  living,  dipped 
his  face  in  the  water,  shook  off  the  big  drops,  and 
polished  it  with  his  handkerchief. 

UT  don't  believe  my  hands  will  be  clean  for  a  month," 
said  Nat,  looking  at  his  red,  chapped,  grimy  paws. 

"  It's  fun  camping  for  a  little  while,  but  beds  with 
sheets  are  so  comfortable,  and  Rap,  —  don't  you  think 
in  winter  camping  is  pretty  smelly  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  it  is  ;  but  then  you  know  real  camp- 


FOXES  AND   SNOW-SHOES  197 

ing  in  wild  places  is  different  from  playing  at  it  as  we 
do  ;  those  people  work  all  day  and  are  too  sleepy  at 
night  to  notice  smells.  Nez  is  so  busy  all  day  long 
out  in  the  cold,  that  when  he  comes  in  he's  too  sleepy  to 
bother  about  little  things.  Toinette  cooks  things  A  1 
anyway.  I  wonder  what  we  are  going  to  have  for 
breakfast  ?  Something  that's  fried  in  a  big  pan  of  fat. 
Do  you  suppose  it's  doughnuts  ?  " 

"  You  supposed  right,"  said  Nat  a  few  minutes  later, 
as  Nez  called  them  to  the  table,  where  there  was  a  flat 
willow  basket  piled  high  with  the  puffy  brown  balls. 
Here  comes  ham,  too,  with  funny  lumpy  sauce  poured 
over  it.     I  wonder  what  it  is  ?  " 

"  Sauce  of  ze  chestnut,  vary  fine,  m'sieurs ;  ze  sauce 
of  my  countree.  I  mak  also  ze  dish  of  ze  countree  of 
ma  'usband —  ze  doonut,  but  zat  ting  of  his  countree, 
ze  pi,  I  mak  not,  bah  !  Shall  it  kill  de  red  from  the 
cheek  de  mes  gargona?  I  name  it  not  wiz  ze  pate  of 
ma  countree  whose  top  it  shall  fly  away  vile  you 
bite." 

The  Doctor  laughed  heartily  at  Toinette's  dislike  of 
pie,  saying  :  "  You  are  right,  Toinette,  pie  is  very  poor 
food  for  little  boys  ;  but  I  have  hard  work  to  make  Nat 
think  so.  Though  I  do  not  believe  in  doughnuts  for 
breakfast,  yours  are  so  light  and  free  from  grease  that 
you  must  not  expect  to  have  one  left." 

"  Ah,  you  are  vary  polite  to  zay  it,"  replied  Toinette, 
blushing  and  pouring  a  sort  of  porridge  into  the  bowls 
that  stood  at  the  children's  places.  "  Zis  is  ze  plumb 
potage  of  Fete  de  Noel,  but  we  did  have  it  on  ze  fete 
day  of  ma  'usband's  countree  —  ze  T'anksgiving." 

Nat  and  Rap  were  soon  fishing  the  big  raisins  out 


198  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

of  the  hot  porridge  with   their  spoons,  as  eagerly  as 
Dominique  and  Plionse. 

h  Isn't  it  good  ?  "  said  Rap,  as  he  neared  the  bottom 
of  the  bowl.  "  Scrape,  scrape,  scrape,"  said  Nat's 
spoon  for  answer. 

***** 

The  boys  were  very  much  disappointed  at  the  con- 
dition of  the  snow  that  morning.  The  wind  had  blown 
all  night  and  drifted  it  so  badly  that  the  hills  were 
quite  bare,  and  coasting  was  impossible,  while  some  of 
the  little  hollows  were  full. 

"  In  my  day  coasting  never  amounted  to  anything 
before  Christmas,"  said  the  Doctor  ;  "  these  earhy  snow 
flurries  seldom  lie  evenly.  One  thing,  Nat,  if  Nez  will 
lend  you  a  pair  of  snow-shoes  and  show  you  how  to  use 
them,  you  can  practise  nicely  down  there  at  the  foot  of 
the  slope." 

"  I  should  think  I  could  walk  on  them  without  being 
taught  how,"  said  Nat.  "  The  snow-shoes  Toinette 
showed  me  yesterday  looked  something  like  tennis 
rackets  with  toe  loops  and  ankle-ties  to  keep  them  on. 
Sliding  along  with  them  would  be  just  as  easy  as  any- 
thing." 

"  So  you  think.  If  you  succeed  in  walking  ten  steps 
on  them  to-day,  you  shall  have  a  pair  of  your  own.  We 
seldom  have  snow,  down  at  the  farm,  deep  enough  to 
make  such  things  necessary,  though  you  might  find 
them  useful  in  going  to  school  some  morning  after  a 
storm  before  the  roads  are  broken,"  said  Mr.  Blake, 
looking  at  the  Doctor  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  which 
however  Nat  did  not  notice. 

Soon  they  went  out  to  the  shed  to  have  a  more  par- 


FOXES   AND    SNOW-SHOES  199 

ticular  view  of  Nez'  Menagerie,  and  look  tit  Nat's  Fox, 
which  was  to  be  skinned  for  him  to  take  home. 

"  I  wonder  if  the  tame  Fox  knows  that  the  old  Fox 
may  be  one  of  his  relations,  perhaps  his  grandfather  ?  " 
said  Rap,  as  the  little  beauty  sniffed  about  the  skin 
that  Nez  was  peeling  off  as  neatly  as  a  glove  turned 
wrong  side  out. 

"  I  should  not  be  surprised  at  anything  a  Fox  may 
know,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  for  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
they  are  continually  hunted,  they  still  manage  to  out- 
wit House  People,  and  increase  and  live  even  about  our 
hen  houses.  This  little  Fox  evidently  recognizes  one 
of  his  own  family.  I  even  fancy  I  can  see  a  look  of 
recognition  in  his  eyes  as  he  sniffs." 

"  Which  do  you  think  are  the  very  cleverest  Ameri- 
can fourfoots  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  The  Beaver  has  a  very  special  sort  of  intelligence 
in  the  way  of  building  his  home,  damming  up  the  water 
necessary  to  protect  it  and  in  storing  up  food;  but  for 
pure  wit  and  cunning  I  think  the  dog  family,  or 
Canidce,  must  be  given  first  place." 

"The  dog  family!  I  didn't  know  there  were  any  real 
American  dogs,"  said  Nat. 

"  Wolves,  Foxes,  and  the  Coyote  of  the  plains  are 
first  cousins  of  the  dogs  we  keep  as  companions. 
Don't  you  know  that  we  have  called  our  big  dog  Mr. 
Wolf  because  he  is  about  the  size  and  the  shape, 
though  not  the  color,  of  the  Timber  AYolf  ?  " 

"  These  Red  Foxes  look  like  dear  little  collie  dogs, 
except  that  their  tails  are  rounder,"  said  Rap. 

"  You  have  often  watched  Mr.  Wolf  and  Quick  go 
hunting  together,  starting  off  as  if  they  had  a  regular 


200  FOUB-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

plan  of  campaign,  working  to  and  fro  on  a  scent  they 
have  found,  galloping,  sneaking,  and  finally  stalking 
their  game  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes  !  "  cried  Nat,  "  I've  often  seen  them,  and 
then  when  they  come  back  if  it's  a  Woodchuck  or  a 
Muskrat  or  a  Skunk  they  have  caught,  Mr.  Wolf  brings 
it  up  to  the  back  door  and  they  both  bark  and  bark 
until  some  one  comes  and  tells  them  how  clever  they 
are.  If  their  noses  are  much  bitten,  as  they  mostly  are 
when  they've  caught  a  Woodchuck,  they  wait  for  Olive 
to  put  vaseline  on  them.  Just  plain  vaseline;  they 
don't  like  the  kind  with  the  carbolic  smell,  that  you 
put  on  our  hands  when  they  are  scratched ;  it  makes 
them  sneeze  and  cough  and  rub  their  noses  in  the  grass. 
I  wonder  why  ?  " 

"  Because  the  members  of  the  dog  family  have  such 
a  keen  sense  of  smell  that  every  odor  seems  many  times 
more  powerful  to  them  than  to  us.  This  is  the  reason 
that  the  Fox  can  smell  the  scent  of  human  lingers  on 
the  trap  set  for  him  unless  it  is  dipped  in  water,  or 
smeared  with  the  blood  of  a  fowl,  or  some  other  means 
is  taken  to  divert  him,  and  even  then  he  may  have  sus- 
picions." 

"  I  should  think  baby  Foxes  would  be  very  pretty," 
said  Rap.  "  What  time  of  the  year  are  they  born  ?  I 
mean  to  look  for  some  next  season." 

"They  are  born  hereabout  in  March  or  April.  In 
May,  when  I  was  a  boy,  I  used  often  to  see  half  a  dozen 
of  these  bright,  sharp-nosed  little  pups  playing  about 
the  entrance  to  their  earth  burrow,  or  creeping  along 
the  rocky  ledge  or  at  the  base  of  the  hollow  tree  that 
was  home  to  them.     But  mamma  was  always  sure  to  be 


FOXES  AND   SNOW- SHOES  201 

near  to  warn  them  of  danger,  and  they  obeyed  whatever 
signal  she  gave  them  and  disappeared  as  quickly  as  the 
little  grouse  hide  under  the  leaves." 

"  Are  there  as  many  kinds  of  Foxes  as  there  are 
Rabbits,  or  only  one  kind  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  There  are  about  ten  different  kinds,  or  species,  as 
the  Wise  Men  say  (I  wish  you  to  remember  the  Avord). 
Some  of  them  are  really  the  same  animal,  who  wears 
somewhat  different  fur,  according  to  the  place  where 
he  lives.  Take  this  Fox  of  Nat's  for  example.  We 
call  him  the  Red  Fox,  being  in  Latin  Vulpes  fulvus.1 
You  see,  he  has  a  coat  of  rust  color  and  yellow.  He 
has  two  half  brothers ;  one  called  the  Cross  Fox,  not 
because  he  has  a  bad  temper,  but  because  his  color  is 
partly  red  and  yellow  and  partly  ashy  brown,  which 
makes  a  cross  mark  on  his  shoulders.  He  is  also  related 
to  another  half  brother  of  our  Red  Fox,  the  Black  or 
Silver  Fox,  whose  coat  varies  from  dark  gray  to  black 
with  a  sprinkling  of  white-tipped  hairs  and  a  white  tail 
tip.  This  condition  of  fur  is  prized  because  it  is  so 
verjr  rare,  and  as  much,  as  one  or  two  hundred  dollars 
has  been  paid  for  a  single  skin.  No  one  but  the  very 
Wise  Men  can  tell  these  brothers  apart  half  the  time, 
and  even  one  of  the  wisest  of  these  calls  our  common 
animal  the  Red-Cross-Silver-Black  Fox." 

"  Oh,  dear,  what  a  lot  to  remember,  and  after  all,  that 
is  only  one  kind,  —  species,  I  mean." 

"  There  are  a  couple  of  others,  very  distinct  varieties 
that  you  can  easily  remember,  —  the  Gray  Fox  and  the 
beautiful  white  Arctic  Fox  of  the  Polar  regions. 

"  The  Gray  is  the  common  Fox  of  the  southern  parts 
1  See  plate,  page  158. 


202  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

of  the  country  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  Its  fur 
on  the  back  is  a  '  pepper-and-salt '  gray  with  a  reel  and 
white  wash  on  the  throat,  sides  of  neck,  sides  of  body 
and  legs.  Its  head  is  broad,  and  it  is  neither  as  graceful 
nor  as  finely  furred  as  the  Red  Fox.  This  Gray  Fox  is  a 
more  snarling,  disagreeable  beast  than  his  red  brother, 
but  does  not  seem  to  be  a  blood-thirsty  hunter,  and  kills 
merely  what  he  needs  for  food.  Though  he  is  fond  of 
grouse,  chickens,  Rabbits,  and  the  eggs  and  young  of 
game  birds  and  domestic  fowls  alike,  he  also  eats 
Meadow  Mice  and  several  kinds  of  rats,  which  habit 
should  be  set  down  for  a  good  mark  beside  his  name. 

"  The  Gray  Fox  can  climb  well,  for  he  has  strong 
curved  nails  that  stick  out  beyond  the  furred  toes,  so 
he  often  escapes  from  his  enemies  by  going  up  trees 
that  may  be  quite  branchless  for  twenty  or  thirty  feet. 
He  also  prefers  a  hollow  log  or  tree  to  an  earth  burrow 
as  a  nest  for  his  puppies,  which  are  not  as  numerous  or 
as  pretty  as  those  of  our  Red  Fox."  _ 

"  I  can  remember  about  that,"  said  Nat.  "  The  Gray 
Fox  belongs  to  the  south  ;  our  Red-Cross-Silver-Black 
Fox  to  the  middle  and  not  too  far  north,  and  then 
there  is  a  white  one  for  the  very  far  north." 

"  Yes,  the  Arctic  Fox,  who  lives  as  near  to  the  never- 
found  North  Pole  as  men  have  been  able  to  go. 

"  He  is  bundled  up  and  dressed  in  the  very  best  style 
for  an  Arctic  explorer,  and  for  this  reason  he  looks 
more  like  a  cur  dog,  and  has  not  the  dapper,  thorough- 
bred appearance  of  his  sleek  red  cousin.  This  Arctic 
Fox  has  a  bunchy  body  with  short,  round,  fur-lined 
ears,  and  ruff's  of  fur  which  give  his  face  a  catlike 
expression.      Summer   and  winter   his    coat  is  white, 


Arctic  Fox. 


FOXES   AND   SNOW-SHOES  203 

but  by  August  the  under-fur  bog-ins  to  thicken,  and 
when  this  Fox  wears  his  heavy  winter  coat  and  is  all 
white,  with  the  exception  of  his  light  brown  eyes,  black 
nose,  and  brown  claws,  he  is  indeed  a  beautiful  animal. 
The  under-fur  is  soft  and  thick,  even  the  soles  of  the 
feet  being  well  padded  to  give  their  owners  a  firm  foot- 
ing in  travelling  on  ice,  as  well  as  for  warmth.  The 
tail  is  short  and  very  bushy,  while  the  longer  fur  is 
thicker  on  the  back  than  underneath." 

"  What  does  this  Fox  eat  'way  up  there,  and  does  he 
make  a  home  burrow  in  the  snow  ?  "  asked  Nat.  "  I 
should  think  he  would  be  awfully  wild,  and  he  must 
work  very  hard  for  a  living." 

"  There  are  no  hen  roosts  to  rob,  but  you  must  not 
forget  the  Arctic  breeding  birds  and  the  Polar  Hares. 
Many  an  anxious  day  this  white  Fox  must  give  the 
Snowflake  in  its  lowly  nest,  while  the  Eider  Duck  and 
Great  Snow  Goose  must  think  this  four-footed  snow- 
drift a  veritable  spirit  of  evil.  The  little  ground- 
burrowing  Lemming  also  helps  to  fill  up  the  chinks  in 
Mr.  Fox's  stomach.  Then  there  are  the  bits  of  flesh 
and  fat  that  the  Polar  Bear  leaves  behind  when  he  lias 
captured  a  fat  Seal,  and  fish  are  to  be  had  for  the 
catching  or  often  the  picking  up.  In  such  a  place 
the  Fox  does  not  have  to  look  for  a  refrigerator  in 
which  to  stow  away  spare  scraps  for  the  next  meal. 
I've  often  wondered  how  he  manages  to  get  his  meat 
into  the  over-ripe  state  that  all  the  dog  family  consider 
so  delicious." 

"  Please,  uncle,"  interrupted  Nat,  "  why  do  dogs  like 
spoiled  meat  so  much  better  than  fresh  ?  Quick  alwaj's 
rolls  and  rubs  his  head  on  any  old  fish  or  dead  bird  he 


204  FOUB-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

finds,  and  Olive  has  to  keep  two  collars  for  him  ;  as  she 
sa}rs,  '  one  to  Avear  and  one  to  air.'  " 

u  It  is  an  unsettled  question  why  this  rolling  is  done  ; 
but  it  is  a  fact  that  the  dog  family,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, are  as  fond  of  rolling  in  carrion  as  a  cat  is  of 
catnip.  The  Arctic  Fox  is  more  clean  and  particular 
than  his  cousins,  perhaps  because  he  has  less  chance  of 
having  spoiled  meat  left  on  his  hands,  and  his  odor  is 
far  less  disagreeable  than  that  of  the  Red  Fox. 

"  The  Arctic  Foxes  live  in  burrows  between  earth 
and  rocks,"  continued  the  Doctor,  "  very  much  like 
their  more  southern  cousins ;  but  instead  of  being  wilder 
they  are  much  less  sly  and  suspicious  than  other  Foxes. 
It  is  easy  to  see  the  reason  of  this.  They  live  beyond 
the  usual  reach  of  civilized  man,  and  the  Eskimo  who 
hunts  them  seldom  uses  firearms,  so  these  Foxes  stop 
to  look  at  pursuers  or  bark  at  them  from  the  doors  of 
their  dens  very  much  like  half-wild  dogs.  They  fall 
into  the  simplest  kinds  of  traps  and  count  their  worst 
enemies  the  Polar  Bear  and  ever-hungry  Wolf,  who 
vie  with  them  in  hardiness.  Then,  too,  they  enjoy  the 
safety  of  color  protection,  —  snow-white  fur  to  blend 
with  the  snow  itself." 

"  Talking  of  Foxes,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  coming  across 
the  shed  where  he  had  been  helping  Nez  fold  the  Fox 
skin,  fur  in,  so  that  it  could  be  carried  back  to  the  farm 
to  be  cured,  "  do  you  know  how  Foxes  defend  them- 
selves when  they  fight  each  other  ?  " 

k*  No,"  said  Rap,  "  unless  they  bite  and  scratch  !  " 

"  They  stand  at  a  little  distance  apart  growling  and 
snapping  ;  when  one  springs,  the  other  brings  round 
his  bushy  tail  to  act  like  a  shield  to  his  head  and  throat, 


FOXES   AND   SNOW-SHOES  205 

so  that  all  that  his  adversary  gets  is  a  mouthful  of 
fur." 

"  Isn't  that  clever  !  Have  you  ever  seen  them  do  it, 
daddy  ?  "  said  Nat. 

"No,  but  a  friend  of  mine  —  the  man  who  made  all 
the  pictures  in  your  uncle's  portfolio  and  knows  so 
much  of  the  ways  of  this  family  of  Wolves  and  Foxes 
that  he  is  called  'Wolf  by  his  friends — says  it  is  so." 

"  You  know,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  I  told  you  long  ago 
that  every  animal  has  something  that  serves  either  as  a 
tool  or  a  weapon,  and  if  you  listen  to  all  there  is  to 
hear  about  the  tails  of  our  fourfoots,  you  will  find  that 
they  are  even  more  useful  than  ornamental.  The  big 
tail,  or  brush,  of  the  Fox,  as  hunters  call  the  prize  they 
seek,  may  be  a  trap  to  catch  burrs  and  a  dead  weight 
to  carry  when  it  is  water  soaked;  but  you  see  it  is  a 
shield  both  in  battle  and  to  keep  paws  and  nose  warm 
during  winter  naps." 

"  Can  Foxes  swim  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"As  easily  as  dogs,"  said  Mr.  Blake.  "I  know  a 
story  about  a  very  clever  Fox,  Avhose  fur,  one  summer, 
was  full  of  fleas  who  bit  him  so  cruelly  that  he  went  in 
swimming  to  cool  himself.  The  fleas,  not  wishing  to 
be  drowned,  climbed  up  on  his  head,  which  was  the 
only  dry  part  of  him. 

"  The  Fox  felt  very  comfortable  for  a  while,  but 
when  he  went  ashore  and  shook  himself  dry,  the  fleas 
quickly  went  back  to  their  old  hiding-places.  T\is 
bothered  the  Fox  a  good  deal,  and  he  thought  about 
the  matter  for  a  great  many  days,  when  he  lay  in  his 
den  hiding  from  the  bright  light,  in  which  you  know 
very  few  of  our  fourfoots  care  to  be  seen. 


206  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  '  I  have  it !  '  lie  said  to  himself.  That  night  there 
was  a  full  moon.  The  Fox  went  down  to  the  river 
where  the  light  came  in  beautiful  silver  stripes  between 
the  trees.  He  pulled  several  bunches  of  old,  worn  fur 
from  his  tail,  and  made  them  into  a  ball  which  he  held 
between  his  front  teeth,  so  that  the  fur  rested  against 
the  end  of  his  nose,  then  he  walked  slowly  and  care- 
fully into  the  water  and  began  swimming  up  and  down. 

"  Soon  the  fleas  collected  on  top  of  his  head,  as  usual. 
Then  he  let  himself  sink  lower  and  lower  until  only  the 
tip  of  his  nose  and  the  ball  of  hair  remained  dry  ;  the 
fleas  crawled  to  his  very  nose  tip.  When  he  drew  that 
under  water  also,  they  took  refuge  in  the  ball  of  fur. 
Quick  as  a  flash  the  Fox  let  go  the  ball,  and,  diving, 
swam  back  to  shore,  Avhere  he  stood  laughing  as  the  ball 
became  water  soaked  and  the  fleas  were  drowned  !  " 

"  Oh,  daddy,  is  that  a  real  true  story  ?  Did  your 
Wolf  friend  tell  it  to  you?" 

"  I  don't  remember  that  he  did,  but  until  we  meet 
the  clever  Fox  who  drowned  the  fleas,  and  hear  what 
he  has  to  say  about  it,  no  one  can  prove  the  story 
untrue." 

"  If  you  reckon  on  tryin'  these  snow-shoes,  you  had 
better  come  down  in  the  holler  before  it  gits  any 
softer,"  said  Nez,  bringing  out  the  shoes.  This  par- 
ticular pair  was  very  simple,  made  of  a  hickory  strip, 
bent  in  an  oblong  until  the  ends  met.  These  ends  were 
fastened  firmly  together,  and  bridged  in  the  centre  by 
a  cross-piece.  This  frame,  which  really  looked  some- 
thing between  a  lacrosse  bat  and  a  tennis  racquet,  was 
latticed  with  strips  of  rawhide  cut  thinner  than  shoe 


FOXES  AND   SNOW-SHOES  207 

laces.  In  front  of  the  cross-bar  was  a  little  opening, 
to  let  the  toes  move  when  the  foot  was  fastened  to  the 
bar,  by  slipping  through  a  stirrup-like  loop.  These 
shoes  were  a  trifle  less  than  four  feet  long,  and  a  foot 
and  a  half  across  at  the  broadest  part. 

"  You  stick  to  the  regular  model,  I  see,"  said  the 
Doctor. 

"  Yes,  1  do  ;  the  mighty  long  ones  and  the  round 
ones  may  have  their  uses  in  places  and  spots,  but  I 
don't  want  none  of  'em,"  said  Nez. 

On  arriving  at  the  hollow,  Nez  slipped  his  feet  into 
the  loops,  and  went  across  the  drift  with  slow,  even 
strides,  swinging  one  foot  over  and  past  the  other,  his 
hands  in  his  pockets,  his  body  bending  slightly  for- 
ward. The  boys  were  surprised  to  see  that  the  shoes 
sunk  several  inches  into  the  snow. 

"  I  thought  they  would  help  you  keep  on  top,"  said 
Nat  ;  "I  don't  think  they  are  much  better  than  boots." 

"  For  a  small  snow  like  this,  they  are  not,"  said  Olaf, 
who  had  come  up  from  the  direction  of  the  river. 
"But  fancy  to  yourself  a  snow  eight  feet  deep  or  ten, 
without  a  crust  to  hold  you  up.  How  should  one  walk 
on  it  ?  At  the  first  step  one  sinks,  at  the  second  one 
would  fall  and  smother.  With  snow-shoes  one  may  go 
on,  sinking  but  a  little,  and  if  many  men  walk  one  after 
the  other,  soon  a  good  trail  is  made.  Beneath  this  trail 
may  be  the  frozen  sea  or  the  deep  ravine,  but  the  snow- 
shoe  will  not  let  the  wearer  sink  to  it.  The  snow-shoe 
means  food  and  life  in  the  far  northlands.  There  Nat- 
ure gives  it  to  the  fourfoots  themselves  —  from  the  fur 
foot-pad  of  the  Fox  to  the  widening  hoof  of  the 
Caribou." 


208  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Meanwhile  Nez  walked  across  several  times  in  the 
same  tracks,  to  make  an  easier  path  for  Nat,  who  was 
impatient  to  try  his  luck. 

"Now  be  careful,"  called  Mr.  Blake  and  the  Doctor 
together,  as  Nat  balanced  himself  on  the  shoes,  feeling 
that  his  feet  were  unnaturally  far  apart.  One  step, 
another,  and  Nat's  feet  had  collided,  his  left  shoe  step- 
ping on  the  heel  of  the  right,  making  him  nearly  turn  a 
somersault  and  land  head  down  in  the  snow,  gasping 
and  struggling. 

The  pa^ty  laughed  heartily,  for  Nat  had  been  so  very 
confident  of  success. 

"If  that  were  big  snow  he  were  lost!"  said  Olaf. 
"  If  you  feel  to  slip,  stoop  down,  that  you  do  not  come 
off,  so  —  "  and  Olaf  squatted  to  show  his  meaning. 

Nat  was  picked  up  and  tried  again,  but  this  time  he 
spread  his  legs  so  far  apart  to  keep  from  interfering 
that  he  could  not  bring  them  together  again,  and  stood 
still  laughing,  his  arms  crossed  to  keep  him  from  sprawl- 
ing, as  if  he  were  a  model  for  a  fancy  letter  A. 

"Never  mind,"  said  the  Doctor,  "you  will  learn  by 
practice  if  we  have  much  snow  this  winter,  for  I  am 
going  to  ask  Nez  and  Olaf  if,  between  them,  they  can- 
not rig  us  up  half  a  dozen  pairs  of  snow-shoes,  so  that 
all  the  household  at  the  farm  can  have  walks  over  the 
fields  when  the  roads  are  choked  and  impassable." 

"  How  jolly  !  "  cried  Nat,  and  then  stopped  as  he  saw 
the  wistful  look  on  Rap's  face  and  remembered  that 
snow-shoes  would  be  of  no  use  to  him. 

"  We  must  have  one  of  those  flat  toboggan  sleds,  too, 
uncle,"  he  added  quickly,  smiling  at  Rap,  "and  then  we 
can  take  turns  in  dragging  Dodo  and  mother,  for  they 


FOXES  AND  SNOW-SHOES  209 

would  be  sure  to  be  tired,  and  Rap  can  ride  on  it,  too, 
whenever  he  wants  to  come." 

"  I'm  glad  to  have  you  introduced  to  snow-shoes," 
said  Mr.  Blake,  "  because  they  hold  an  important  part 
in  the  life-history  and  hunting  of  some  of  our  biggest 
game,  as  well  as  furnish  the  '  reason  why  '  some  of  our 
noblest  animals,  like  the  Moose,  are  following  the 
Buffalo  to  the  Happy  Hunting  Grounds." 

Olaf,  Nez,  Toinette's  brother,  and  the  Doctor  were 
talking  earnestly  together  as  Mr.  Blake  turned  toward 
them,  and  the  boys  heard  the  words,  "deer,"  "sharp 
tracks,"  "fine  buck,"  "last  night,"  ending  with  Nez' 
usual  exclamation  of  surprise,  "  Want  to  know  !  " 

"  Jacque  has  seen  a  Deer  two  miles  below  here," 
said  Olaf,  "in  a  cleared  bit  in  the  woods.  He  saw 
him  in  the  snow  last  night,  but  was  not  quite  sure 
because  of  the  drift.  Early  to-day  he  saw  the  sure 
prints,  and  later  the  Deer  himself  browsing  with  two 
does,  where  the  wind  had  bared  the  grass." 

"  Deer  were  plenty  all  along  here  and  over  toward 
the  farm  in  my  father's  day,"  said  the  Doctor  ;  "it  will 
be  wonderful  if  they  are  straying  back  again  from 
some  overcrowded  feeding  ground." 

"Perhaps  they  have  run  away  from  a  Menagerie," 
suggested  Nat. 

"I  think  not,"  said  the  Doctor  ;  "it  is  evidently  a 
little  family  party  starting  off  to  explore  for  itself. 
At  any  rate  we  will  not  welcome  them  with  bullets  in 
the  usual  fashion,  but  after  making  sure  of  their  where- 
abouts leave  them  in  peace." 

"  Who  knows,  Nez,  but  we  may  be  able  to  turn  your 
bit  of  woods  here  into  a  place  for  preserving  and  pro- 


210  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

tecting  some  of  our  fourfoots,  and  make  you  chief 
gamekeeper  and  forester  general." 

"  I'm  willin',  Doc,  but  I  must  get  a  peep  at  'em  to 
make  sure,"  said  Nez,  his  sporting  blood  throbbing. 

"Yes,"  added  Olaf,  "  we  will  go  down  this  afternoon 
to  make  sure  that  the  Dream  Fox  has  not  been  showing 
his  picture  book  to  the  good  Jacque." 

"  If  you  will  keep  me,  I  will  stay  and  go  with  you  ; 
I  must,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  capering  about  as  gleefully  as 
Nat  or  Dodo  when  they  suspected  a  surprise. 

"  I  shall  take  the  others  to  the  Ridge  then  and  come 
back  and  wait  here  one,  two,  three  days  more  then,  until 
you  are  ready,"  said  Olaf,  looking  pleased. 

"Which  reminds  me  that  we  must  be  starting  home- 
ward in  less  than  an  hour,"  said  the  Doctor,  looking  at 
his  watch. 

"  Oh,  I  want  to  see  the  Deer  too  !  "  cried  Nat. 

"  Sorry  to  say  no  to  anything  so  tempting  ;  but  I 
promised  to  bring  you  both  safely  back  to  your  mothers 
to-night.  Who  knows,  however,"  said  the  Doctor, 
cheerfully,  "  but  these  same  Deer  may  stray  over  to  the 
farm  woods  and  make  a  visit  !  " 

They  went  back  to  the  cabin  for  early  dinner  and 
to  say  "good-by"  to  Toinette  and  the  boys  and  make 
them  promise  to  return  the  visit  by  coming  to  the 
Christmas  party  at  the  farm.  They  found  the  boys 
waiting  with  a  stout  bag  between  them,  in  which  was 
something  that  moved  about  a  great  deal. 

"What  have  you  there — the  Porcupine?"  asked 
the  Doctor. 

"  Billy  Coon,"  replied  Phonse,  plucking  up  courage 
to  speak. 


FOXES  AND   SNOW-SHOES  211 

"  They  make  a  gift  to  you  of  the  Coon  to  be  your 
ami,  your  friend,  to  take  d  la  maison,  to  your  'ouse," 
explained  Toinette. 

The  boys  were  delighted,  of  course.  "  Mammy  Bun 
will  think  we  have  brought  her  an  old  friend ;  but  I'm 
not  sure  what  your  mother  and  the  dogs  will  say,"  said 
the  Doctor  in  an  undertone. 

^  %  ?f£  %  7^ 

The  journey  home  passed  like  a  flash,  and  six  o'clock 
saw  Rap  seated  by  the  stove  in  his  mother's  little 
kitchen  chattering  of  all  the  wonders  of  the  trip,  end- 
ing by  telling  her  that  her  mink  muff  had  once  killed 
chickens,  while  she  listened  as  eagerly  as  if  he  had 
made  a  voyage  round  the  world. 

Meanwhile  the  Doctor  decided  that  the  Coon  was  to 
go  in  the  barn,  and  not  be  introduced  to  the  family 
until  next  day.  Dodo  was  being  entertained  by  Nat, 
and  was  so  interested  that  she  almost  forgot  to  eat  her 
supper,  and  afterward  coaxed  her  uncle  into  bringing 
the  portfolio  of  pictures  into  the  wonder  room,  that 
she  might  look  at  all  the  Foxes  and  other  little  fur 
bearers.  But  when  she  came  to  the  picture  of  the  Por- 
cupine and  heard  its  story,  she  gave  a  little  shiver  and 
exclaimed,  "  I'm  glad  now  I  stayed  at  home,  for  if  I  had 
seen  him  in  the  dark,  I  should  have  jumped  up  and 
screamed,  and  then  you  wouldn't  have  heard  him  sing, 
and  most  likely  he  would  have  stuck  me  so  full  of 
prickles  that  I  couldn't  sew  my  Christmas  presents  !  " 


XV 


WOLF! 


m^mmm 


^ILL   you   piease  choose   one 

of  the  dog  family?"   asked 

Rap  the  next  Saturday,  when 

it  was  Nat's  turn  to  select  a 

picture  for  the  story. 

"  Yes,  I  meant  to  choose  this 

one  —  the    Wolf,"    said    Nat; 

"  and  the  picture  looks  as  if 

a  story  really  belonged  to  it." 

"  '  A  Trap  '   is  printed   on 

the   picture,"  said  Dodo,  "  but  I   don't   see   any   trap, 

unless  the  Wolf  is  caught  in  one  and  can't  move." 

"  Wrong,  quite  wrong,  missy,"  said  the  Doctor,  set- 
tling himself  by  the  fire,  after  taking  a  couple  of  skins 
from  those  hanging  about  the  walls  and  spreading  them 
before  him  on  the  floor. 

"  Listen,  and  I  will  tell  you  the  story  of  the  great 
Gray  Wolf,  whose  picture  you  have  here,  and  also 
about  his  little  barking  brother,  the  Coyote." 

"  It  is  sure  to  be  a  good  fierce  story,"  said  Dodo, 
"because  Wolves  gobble  people,  you  know.  When 
you  lived  far  away,  were  you  good  friends  with  Wolves, 
uncle?" 

"Our  American  Wolves  are  not  man-eaters  as  some 

212 


Timber  Wolf. 


WOLF!  213 

of  their  Old  World  brothers  are  thought  to  be,  but  say- 
ing that  I  am  a  friend  of  Wolves  and  know  all  about 
them  —  that  is  quite  a  different  matter." 

"A  Wolf  has  no  friends;  he  is  hated  by  twofoots 
and  fourfoots  alike.  As  for  knowing  all  about  Wolves 
we  may  know  some  things  and  think  we  know  others, 
but  the  coinings  and  goings  of  a  Wolf  are  as  mysterious 
as  the  track  of  the  wind  itself.  They  move  from  place 
to  place  so  suddenly  and  so  swiftly  that  it  would  be 
easy  to  believe  they  flew  on  the  storm,  as  witches  were 
said  to  do  on  broomsticks." 

"  Why  do  you  say  that  some  Wolves  in  other  coun- 
tries are  thought  to  eat  people  —  don't  you  believe  they 
do  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  They  may  sometimes,  but  it  is  best  not  to  believe 
all  that  is  said  about  animals  ;  for  there  are  a  great 
many  of  what  Rap  calls  '  boast  stories '  floating  around, 
especially  about  Wolves.  The  Wolf  is  one  of  the  easi- 
est animals  to  see  doubled  and  hear  quadrupled.  One 
may  believe  that  a  Avhole  pack  is  outside  the  tent,  bent 
on  tearing  you  limb  from  limb,  or  swallowing  you, 
sleeping  blanket  and  all,  when  it  is  really  only  one 
mangy  starveling,  sniffing  about  for  scraps  of  bacon  or 
a  bit  of  venison  you  have  cached  a  little  carelessly." 

"  Cashed  !  "  said  Nat.  "  I  thought  cash  was  money. 
How  could  you  make  money  out  of  meat,  uncle  ?  " 

"  Cached,  with  a  c,  means  hidden.  It's  a  word  that 
came  from  the  French,  round  by  way  of  the  Canadian 
voyageurs.  It  is  in  common  use  in  camp  talk  ;  a  cache 
is  a  hiding-place.  The  Gray  Squirrel,  instead  of  cach- 
ing his  nuts  all  in  one  place  as  a  Red  Squirrel  does,  puts 
each  one  in  a  separate  cache.'1'' 


214  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  can  understand  that,"  said  Dodo. 

"  When  the  Squirrel  goes  to  find  a  nut,  he  plays 
cache-cache  then,  for  that  is  what  French  children  call 
hide-and-seek,"  said  Olive,  laughing. 

"  Wolves  all  over  the  world  bear  very  much  the  same 
character.  The  Wolf  is  an  emblem  of  deceit  and  cun- 
ning. A  Wolf,  in  the  legend,  ate  Red  Riding  Hood's 
grandmother  and  tried  to  trick  the  child  herself.  When 
it  is  said  of  people,  '  The}r  have  hard  work  to  keep 
the  AVolf  from  the  door,'  it  means  that  want,  or  some 
trouble  as  cruel  and  cunning  as  a  Wolf,  is  threatening 
them.  The  Gray  Wolf,  whose  skin  (the  larger  of  the 
two)  lies  there  on  the  floor,  is,  next  to  the  Grizzly  Bear, 
the  most  cruel  and  desperate  of  our  fourfoots.  Yet  he 
is  a  coward  ;  if  he  were  not  he  would  have  given  battle 
to  the  death  to  thousands  of  the  pioneers  who,  as  it  was, 
struggled  inch  by  inch  in  face  of  desperate  dangers  to 
settle  this  country.  Why  the  Wolf  is  such  a  coward 
no  one  knows  ;  but,  fortunately,  he  is,  or  his  race  would 
not  yet  have  been  driven  back  until  even  the  sight  of 
a  Wolf,  except  in  a  part  of  the  West  from  Texas  to 
North  Dakota,  is  a  great  rarity." 

"  If  this  old  Wolf  skin  could  only  tell  what  it  knows, 
the  story  would  not  be  a  dull  one.  Look  at  it  there, 
with  its  long  bristling  gray  and  black  hair,  brindled 
with  traces  of  an  under-color  of  yellowish  brown  at  its 
base.  The  under-fur  is  soft  brown,  while  on  the  belly 
both  hair  and  fur  are  white.  There  is  a  bit  of  buff  also 
about  its  face,  ears,  and  flanks.  See  its  black  whiskers, 
the  slantwise  eye  holes,  pointed  ears,  and  straight,  bushy 
tail. 

"  The    body  and  head   are  both  long.     This  Wolf 


WOLF!  215 

must  have  been  four  feet  and  a  half  from  nose  tip  to 
root  of  tail.  Ah,  yes,  you  handle  the  empty  skin  freely 
enough ;  but  give  it  life,  let  the  strong  white  dog  teeth 
snap  in  its  jaws,  the  bright  eyes  gleam,  and  its  long- 
drawn  howl  come  from  the  black  lips,  and  you  would 
not  stay  near  it  long.  If  it  only  could  speak  !  "  said 
the  Doctor,  pausing  and  looking  at  the  fire. 

"  Wough-ow-ow  owou-ough,"  sounded  a  weird  voice 
outside  the  door.  "  Wough-oble-oble-oble-ough-o-u- 
gooow  !  " 

"  Horrors,  what  is  that  ?  "  cried  Olive,  startled  from 
her  usual  calmness. 

"  It's  Wolves  !  "  screamed  Nat  and  Rap. 

"  A  whole  pack,  but  they've  come  for  bacon  scraps, 
they  don't  want  us,"  shivered  Dodo,  trying  to  seem 
brave. 

Even  the  Doctor  was  a  little  startled,  but  the  sus- 
pense only  lasted  a  moment.  It  was  broken  by  a  ring- 
ing laugh  which,  even  before  he  came  in,  they  all  knew 
belonged  to  Mr.  Blake. 

"  Oh,  daddy  !  daddy  !  "  said  Dodo,  "  I  didn't  know  ! 
How  can  you  be  such  an  intimate  friend  of  Wolves 
that  you  could  cry  their  cry,  when  uncle  says  they 
have  no  friends  ?  " 

"  I'm  not  sure  that  I  am  a  friend  of  theirs  either," 
said  Mr.  Blake,  throwing  himself  down  on  the  wolf- 
skin rug;  "but  I've  been  among  them  where  they  live, 
and  have  heard  their  talk,  and  have  seen  their  work." 

"  Tell  them  your  story  of  this  Wolf  skin,  then,"  said 
the  Doctor  ;  so  after  thinking  for  a  few  moments,  Mr. 
Blake  began  :  — 

"  Every  one  knows  the  name  of  Wolf.     This  animal 


216  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

is  sometimes  called  Gray  Wolf,  and  the  Wise  Men  now 
say  Timber  Wolf ;  but  the  simple  word  Wolf  stands  for 
both  cruelty  and  cunning.  His  family  history,  from 
the  time  the  white  men  came  to  settle  in  this  land,  is 
full  of  dark  deeds  and  darker  punishments.  The  Ind- 
ians repeat  many  tales  about  him,  and  tell  how  that 
long  ago  the  Wolf  ate  of  the  meat  of  knowledge.  This 
meat  was  the  flesh  of  the  great  wide-eared,  hornless 
Deer  who  is  no  longer  living,  but  who  was  so  wise 
in  his  day  that  he  taught  the  winds  how  to  blow. 
Whoever  among  the  fourfoots  should  take  one  of  these 
Deer  by  fair  hunting,  and  eat  its  flesh,  won  great 
wisdom  for  his  race,  with  keen  eyes  to  read  hidden  sign 
languages  and  a  nose  to  scent  every  message  of  the 
wind. 

"  The  Bear  only  licked  a  bit  of  this  magical  meat ; 
this  brought  it  cunning  and  stupidity.  The  Fox,  being 
too  small  to  hunt  it,  nibbled  at  a  piece  he  did  not  kill ; 
this  gave  him  cunning,  together  with  the  penalty  that 
he  should  be  hunted  by  the  beasts  of  his  own  tribe. 
The  Puma  seized  a  piece  of  flesh  another  beast  had 
hidden,  and  so  was  given  cunning  and  a  sure,  swift  leap, 
but  heavy  paws  that  weigh  in  running.  Then  a  Wolf 
slew  the  last  wing-eared  Deer  of  all,  not  by  fair  chase, 
but  by  trap  and  treachery,  so  that  the  Deer  in  dying 
branded  the  Wolf  a  coward. 

" '  Hunt  and  be  ever  hunted,'  he  shrieked.  '  Hunt 
with  hanging  head  and  tail  ;  hunt  treacherously  with 
wile  and  snare,  for  you  will  have  great  need  of  cunning. 
An  enemy  comes  from  far  across  the  seas,  who  walks 
upright  as  Bears  walk,  having  a  moon-white  face,  in 
one  hand  carrying  fire,  and  in  the  other  the  fine  white 


WOLF !  217 

earth  that  kills,1  and  he  shall  likewise  devise  magic 
wands  to  spring  and  hold  you  fast. 

" '  You  will  wage  war  together,  this  man  and  you, 
but  he  will  conquer.  And  as  a  punishment  for  your 
way  of  killing  me,  you  shall  fear  to  kill  him,  for  your 
real  name  is  Coward  ! ' 

uSo  after  many  years  the  white  men  came  from  over 
seas  and  settled,  though  at  first  there  were  but  few, 
and  the  Wolves  still  roamed  at  will  about  the  country 
—  from  the  land  where  the  snow  never  melts,  down 
through  the  woods  and  plains  to  where  the  Rio  Grande 
runs  slantwise  through  the  country  and  the  prickly 
Peccaries  and  cacti  live.  The  northern  Wolves  were 
large  and  grizzly ;  but  those  in  the  hot  south  were 
smaller  and  had  thinner  fur.  Wolves  wore  handsome 
robes  in  those  days,  and  had  as  many  names  as  Bobo- 
links. They  were  called  White  Wolves  and  Black  in 
the  northwest,  Red  Wolves  in  the  cactus  country,  and 
Gray  Wolves  everywhere. 

"  There  were  some  smaller  Wolves,  who  were  less 
savage  and  less  swift  of  foot  than  their  brothers,  more 
doglike  and  talkative,  who  babbled  the  secrets  of  the 
tribe  and  liked  to  hang  about  the  homes  of  House 
People,  rather  than  live  in  woods  or  caves.  The  larger 
Wolves  disliked  them,  because  they  were  afraid  lest 
they  should  tell  tribe  secrets  ;  so  they  turned  these 
small  ones  out  to  be  a  tribe  apart,  to  feed  on  meaner 
game,  and  snatch  and  steal  in  open  places. 

"  These  small  Wolves  were  given  charge  over  sheep, 
Jack  Rabbits,  and  such  timid  things,  and  men  called 
them  Coyotes  (ground  burro wers).  But  the  Coyote  is 
1  Strychnine. 


218  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

also  a  cunning  huntsman,  and  lays  his  own  traps  and 
chases  Antelope  on  the  plains ;  yet  to-day  there  is 
hatred  between  the  two  tribes,  and,  if  a  hungry  Timber 
Wolf  meets  his  little  brother,  he  will  often  eat  him  ! 

"  Look  at  that  Coyote  skin  on  the  settle;  you  can  see 
it  is  of  a  finer  texture  than  this  Gray  Wolf  robe.  It  is 
softly  furred,  a  dark  ripple  running  from  head  to  tail 
and  across  the  brindled  shoulders,  it  has  white  lips,  a 
rusty  face,  and  a  black  tip  to  the  tail,  and  measures  a 
full  tail  length  shorter  than  this  Gray  Wolf's  pelt. 
The  Coyote  is  little  more  than  a  vagabond  wild  dog, 
who  barks  and  howls  around  the  edges  of  settlements, 
licking  his  lips  when  a  lamb  bleats  or  a  cock  crows. 

"  When  the  Buffalo  herds  blackened  the  plains,  the 
Gray  Wolves  lived  by  following  them,  snatching  the 
calves  or  killing  the  wounded  and  feeble  old  ones. 
Then  great  bands  of  Deer,  Elk,  Antelope,  furnished 
them  with  food  at  all  seasons  ;  for  Wolves  with  their 
spreading  feet  could  follow  these  heavy,  sharp-hoofed 
beasts  over  the  deep  snow,  through  which  they  sank, 
and,  spent  and  overcome,  soon  became  the  Wolves' 
prey. 

"  As  the  country  was  settled,  the  Wolves  crept  back  ; 
for  whether  the  Indian's  tale  was  true  or  not,  a  spell 
seemed  to  prevent  their  killing  men.  Gun,  trap,  and 
poison  were  all  turned  at  the  Wolves,  who  were  also 
chased  with  dogs  ;  but  still  they  worked  mischief  among 
horses,  flocks,  and  herds,  and  still  the  cry  among  the 
frontiersmen  was  '  Wolf  !  Wolf  !  how  shall  we  destroy 
him  ? ' 

"  Wolves  have  another  fault  besides  sneak  hunting, 
they  break  Nature's  law,  '  Take  what  3re  need  to  eat,' 


WOLF !  219 

and  kill  in  times  of  plenty  as  if  for  the  mere  greed  of 
killing,  snatching  a  bite  here,  a  fragment  there,  then 
wasting  all  the  rest.  They  also  have  one  virtue,  which 
is  common  enough  among  the  birds,  but  rare  in  four- 
foots, —  they  love  their  mates;  and  a  friend  of  mine 
who  knows  Wolves  as  well  as  we  know  people,  tells  a 
story  of  the  fiercest,  slyest  Wolf  of  all  the  southwest, 
who,  in  despair  at  having  lost  Jus  mate,  rushed  headlong 
into  a  trap. 

"The  home  life  of  the  Wolf  is  very  short.  His  house  is 
only  a  hole  under  some  roots,  or  a  sheltering  cave,  which 
covers  half  a  dozen  little  woolly  puppies  in  the  late 
spring.  Then  the  Wolves  are  happy,  for  it  is  the  season 
when  the  Deer  are  fattening  on  the  young  grass  and 
wear  soft  new  horns.  From  this  time  follows  six  months 
of  good  living,  then  half  a  year  that  is  a  war  with 
famine.  Wolves  do  not  sleep  the  lazy  winter  sleep  like 
Bears,  but  hunt  in  packs,  plotting  to  make  a  living  like 
human  thieves.  If  it  had  not  been  that  long  ago  they 
ate  the  meat  of  knowledge,  they  would  be  gone  and  no 
one  would  understand  the  cry  of  Wolf  !  As  it  is,  there 
are  still  many  of  them  in  the  northwest  grazing  country, 
and  they  increase  here  and  there  mysteriously  from 
Texas  to  North  Dakota  even  if  men  continually  hunt 
and  harry  them  and  Deer  are  few ;  for  if  bread  fails 
them,  they  relish  cake,  by  which  I  mean  to  say  that,  if 
they  can't  find  venison,  they  are  quite  content  with  veal 
and  mutton. 

"  All  f ourfoots  understand  the  speech  of  scent,  more 
or  less,  but  Wolves  certainly  are  wise  with  uncommon 
wisdom  and  have  a  wonderful  sign  and  scent  language. 
If  one  of  the  tribe  dies  of  poison,  the  others  will  not  eat 


220  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

food  scraps  in  that  place.  Does  a  Wolf  of  some  other 
tribe  run  by,  driven  by  fear;  he  may  not  be  even  seen, 
but  he  writes  in  his  track  and  stopping-places  the 
message  that  he  wishes  other  Wolves  to  knoAv.  Every 
hair  that  bristles  on  a  Wolf's  back  has  its  own  mean- 
ing. 

"Now  listen  to  the  story  of  this  Wolf,  whose  skin 
is  on  the  floor.  He  and  his  mate  hunted  together, 
often  dashing  at  a  horse  or  Deer,  tearing  its  running 
sinews  from  behind,  with  their  sharp  teeth,  or  some- 
times picking  up  a  calf  that  ran  beside  its  mother, 
always  having  good  eating.  Often  they  would  find 
a  Deer's  trail,  running  from  its  day  cover  to  a  spring, 
or  to  its  dainty  wood  pasturage.  The  Wolves  did  not 
wish  to  run  together  openly,  for  Deer  are  very  swift, 
and  would  lead  them  a  weary  race,  so  they  would  sniff 
the  night  wind  and  get  before  it  so  that  it  might  not  tell 
their  doings  to  the  Deer.  The  wind  is  fickle,  an  enemy 
to  all  hunters,  always  carrying  along  the  latest  gossip. 
Then  one  wolf  would  lie  hidden  by  the  runway,  while 
his  mate  would  show  herself  openly,  and  drive  the 
Deer,  at  first  gently,  then  fiercely,  until  it  would  run 
blindly  in  a  circle  (a  habit  of  the  family)  to  its  first 
cover,  past  the  very  spot  where  the  other  Wolf  lay  like 
a  living  trap;  one  spring  brought  down  the  Deer  and 
then  the  pair  feasted  at  leisure."' 

"  Oh,  then  that  is  what  'A  Trap '  means  on  this 
picture.  The  Wolf  was  a  trap  for  the  Deer,"  said 
Dodo.  "  But  how  did  the  Wolf  come  to  die  and  be 
made  into  this  rug  ?  " 

"  Bad  days  came  soon  after  to  the  pair.  The  she- 
wolf  vanished,  House  People  cleared  the  timber  from 


WOLF !  221 

that  place  and  shot  most  of  the  Deer  to  feed  themselves. 
The  next  winter  was  bitter  cold,  and  yet  the  snow  was 
not  deep  enough  for  our  Wolf  to  chase  and  overcome 
what  Deer  remained.  So  he  prowled  too  recklessly 
about  a  camp,  and  one  night  stepped  into  a  trap  that 
gripped  his  leg,  that  hind  leg  that  you  see  now  wears 
no  foot.  The  Wolf  straggled  in  vain  to  pull  himself 
away,  and  then  with  awful  bites  gnawed  himself  free, 
leaving  his  foot  fast  in  the  trap. 

"  Soon  he  grew  hungrier  and  hungrier;  he  could  find 
no  food.  Then,  being  desperate,  he  said,  '  I  would  even 
kill  a  man  !  ' 

"  Early  the  next  night  he  stole  down  to  the  camping 
place,  but  he  found  no  one  there,  and  the  campfire  was 
nearly  out.  Wolves  do  not  like  fire  —  and  he  thought, 
'Surely  this  is  my  chance,  perhaps  they  have  left  some 
food,'  so  he  stalked  in  as  boldly  as  his  mangled  leg  al- 
lowed. Then  he  stopped,  for  he  scented  man  !  Soon 
he  went  on  again,  for  stretched  in  the  corner  lay  a 
bundle  in  a  blanket,  —  a  man,  but  hurt  and  helpless. 

"  The  signs  said,  '  This  man  went  out  hunting  with 
his  friends,  he  lost  their  track,  he  fell  and  broke  his  leg, 
his  gun  is  buried  in  the  snow,  he  crawled  back  alone  to 
shelter.'  Then  again  the  signs  whispered  to  the  Wolf 
as  he  hesitated,  '  Kill  him  !  He  is  yours.  He  set  the 
trap  that  robbed  jou  of  your  foot.' 

"  The  Wolf  growled  defiantly  and  crouched  beside  the 
bundle,  waiting  until  it  should  give  some  sign  of  life  to 
give  the  rending  bite.  The  bundle  moved  and  raised 
itself,  fixing  its  eyes  upon  the  Wolf,  look  for  look  ! 

"  The  Wolf  glared,  but  saw  in  those  two  human  eyes 
a  light  that  never  is  in  the  eyes  of  beasts.     His  breath 


222  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

blew  coldly  back  to  him,  he  shivered,  for  in  his  heart 
he  was  a  coward.  He  longed  to  bite,  and  yet  he  did 
not  dare. 

"  The  sleeping  fire  outside,  that  marked  the  camp, 
shot  out  a  flaming  tongue.  The  Wolf  started,  crouched, 
fearing  to  pass  it.  Then  scenting  on  the  wind  that 
other  men  were  coming,  he  slunk  out  and,  not  stopping 
to  read  the  signs,  seized  a  lump  of  meat,  bolted  it,  and 
ran  until  he  reached  the  Avood  edge. 

"The  tramp  of  many  feet  bent  the  ice  crust,  hurried 
words  came  from  the  camp,  mingled  with  the  cry  of 
Wolf  !  and  the  crash  of  logs.  The  fire  leaped  high. 
Fire  also  burned  within  the  Wolf;  then  came  the  end 
—  the  scrap  of  meat  that  he  had  swallowed  held  the 
fine  white  earth  that  kills  !  " 

***** 

"  Oh  !  I  was  so  afraid  the  poor  man  would  be  eaten," 
said  Dodo,  with  a  sigh  of  satisfaction.  "Who  was  the 
man,  daddy  ?  —  for  there  must  have  really  been  a  man, 
or  the  skin  of  the  Wolf  with  one  foot  gone  wouldn't 
have  been  found." 

"  Was  it  yourself  ?  "  asked  Olive. 

***** 

At  that  moment  a  scream  from  the  kitchen  turned 
their  thoughts  in  another  direction,  so  they  hurried  out 
to  find  the  cause. 

It  was  easily  seen.  Billy  Coon,  Avho  had  escaped  un- 
noticed from  the  camp  while  the  Wolf  story  was  in 
progress,  in  attempting  to  help  himself  to  some  bread 
dough  that  was  rising  by  the  fire,  had  fallen  into  the 
soft  mass,  and  at  Mammy's  scream  climbed  to  the  top 
shelf  of  the  dresser,  where  he  sat,  streaming  dough. 


XVI 


COUSINS   OF   CATS 


A.C COONS  have  the  reputation  of  being  as 
mischievous  as  monkeys,  as  well  as  play- 
ful as  kittens.  Billy  Coon  did  all  in  his 
power  to  keep  up  the  reputation  of  his 
family,  as  well  as  to  make  life  interest- 
ing to  the  children  at  the  farm,  often 
succeeding  only  too  well,  and  was 
threatened  with  banishment  by  Rod,  Dr. 
Hunter,  and  Mammy  Bun  in  turn. 
Billy  was  supposed  to  live  at  the 
stable,  except  on  Saturdays,  when  lie  was  brought  to 
camp,  "  to  make  it  seem  more  like  outdoors,"  as  Dodo 
said.  The  children  watched  eagerly  to  see  if  he  would 
go  to  the  hay  loft  and  curl  up  for  the  winter  sleep, 
after  the  custom  of  his  family.  But  no,  Billy  did  not 
propose  to  waste  his  time  in  this  way,  and  indeed  why 
should  he?  Was  he  not  comfortable  and  well  fed? 
He  had  no  need  to  tighten  his  belt  and  go  to  bed  to 
keep  warm.  To  be  sure,  he  did  sleep  nearly  all  day 
curled  up  in  the  hay  rack  over  Comet's  stall,  waking 
up  before  dark  each  night  to  devise  fresh  mischief. 

The  feed  and  oats  were  kept  in  bins  above  the  stable, 
connected  by  a  long,  wooden  shoot  with  the  stalls  be- 
low.    One  night  Billy  pulled  open  the  little  slot  over 

223 


224  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Comet's  manger,  and  when  Rod  arrived  in  the  morning 
he  found  the  trotter  standing  in  a  pond  of  oats,  having 
eaten  so  much  that  he  had  to  take  a  dose  of  medicine 
and  have  his  stomach  rubbed  with  a  broom  handle  to 
cure  his  colic.  For  the  stomach  of  a  horse  is  so  built 
that  when  colic  once  gets  inside  it  is  very  difficult  to 
get  it  out  again. 

Another  evening  Billy  escaped  unnoticed,  before  Rod 
closed  the  barn,  and  went  into  the  house  cellar.  There 
he  feasted  and  revelled  all  night,  only  to  frighten 
Mammy  Bun  nearly  out  of  her  wits,  when  she  went 
down  to  get  the  potatoes  to  bake  for  breakfast,  by  am- 
bling out  at  her,  dripping  with  molasses  from  the  jug 
which  he  had  overturned.  This  particular  evening  he 
had  engaged  in  a  slight  difference  of  opinion  with 
Quick  over  a  plate  of  scraps,  and  so  kept  prudently 
upon  the  camp  rafters,  while  Quick  and  Mr.  Wolf 
eyed  him  in  a  way  that  meant  trouble  for  his  ring- 
tailed  Furship. 

"  Won't  you  please  choose  the  three  Cats  with  no 
bodies  ? "  said  Dodo  to  Olive,  whose  turn  it  was  to 
select  the  picture  for  the  story. 

"  I  was  thinking  of  choosing  the  Cats,"  replied  Olive. 
"  There  are  a  couple  more  pictures  beside  those.  Ah, 
here  they  are  !  The  spotted  Ocelot,  lying  in  wait  in  a 
tree,  and  the  Puma,  hunting  Elk/' 

'■'  There  is  another  a  little  further  over,''  said  Rap, 
"  a  lean,  weaselly -looking  beast  with  a  thick  tail.  It  is 
called  Civet  Cat,  though  it  has  a  Fox  face  and  a  Coon 
tail." 

"You  may  take   out  the  pictures  with   the   others, 


COUSINS    OF  CATS  225 

though  it  is  not  a  Cut  at  all,  but  it  is  a  good  chance  to 
tell  you  why  it  is  not,"  said  the  Doctor. 

"  This  Northern  Civet  Cat,  or  Cacomistle  (Bush  Cat) 
as  the  Wise  Men  call  it,  though  it  belongs  in  the  south- 
west part  of  the  country,  has  more  names  than  there 


Civet  Cat. 

are  days  in  the  week,  and  all  because  in  appearance 
and  habits  it  is  a  sort  of  patchwork  resembling,  from 
different  points  of  view,  Coon,  Fox,  Cat,  and  Squirrel. 
ki  In  killing  birds  and  robbing  nests  it  follows  the 
House  Cat,  and  like  it  prowls  at  night  and  makes  an 
amusing  pet.     Its  body,  covered  with  Coon-gray  fur, 

Q 


226  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

is  about  eighteen  inches  long  and  ends  in  such  a  thick, 
ringed  tail,  that  you  say  Coon  at  once,  and  it  does  be- 
long'in  the  Raccoon  family,  and  is  the  very  least  cousin 
of  the  Bear,  in  spite  of  its  catlike  ears,  whiskers,  and 
slender,  lithe  body.  The  Civet  Cat  also  makes  its  home 
in  hollow  branches  or  stumps  like  the  Coon,  and  as  it 
climbs  and  dodges  about,  it  might  easily  be  taken  for  a 
wide-eared  Squirrel,  except  for  its  tail.  You  see,  here 
is  another  case  where  the  tail  tells  !  " 

After  placing  the  pictures  carefully  in  a  row  below 
the  map,  animal  tree,  and  ladder  for  climbing  it,  the 
children  came  back  to  the  fire,  near  which,  on  the  set- 
tle, Dr.  Roy  had  thrown  three  skins  —  plain,  spotted, 
and  streaked. 

"  How  many  species  of  Cats  are  there  in  North 
America  ?  "  asked  Olive. 

"  Nine  :  five  with  high  shoulders,  short  fur,  and  long 
tails,  like  those  of  their  cousins  the  Lion,  Tiger,  and 
House  Cat,  and  four  of  the  Lynx  variety,  with  short  or 
bobtails,  long  fluffy  fur,  high  back  legs,  and  sharply 
pointed  ears.  All  but  one  of  the  long-tailed  varieties 
belong  to  the  southwest,  being  much  more  at  home  in 
Central  and  tropical  America  than  near  the  United 
States  border.  Beginning  with  the  largest,  they  are 
called  the  Jaguar,  the  Puma,  the  Ocelot,  the  Yagua- 
rundi  Cat,  and  the  Eyra  Cat,  the  last  two  being  com- 
paratively unknown.  The  Puma  and  the  Ocelot  are 
the  only  ones  that  concern  us. 

"  Of  the  four  bobtail  Cats,  or  Lynxes,  the  Canada 
Lynx  belongs  to  the  north.  The  Spotted  and  Plateau 
Lynx  belong  to  the  southwest,  leaving  us  in  the  mid- 
dle and  southeast  states  the  Bay  Lynx,  or  Wildcat,  as 


COUSINS   OF  CATS  227 

he  is  everywhere  called.  They  all  have  four  toes  on 
the  hind  feet  and  five  on  the  front,  and  their  tongues 
are  covered  with  backward-pointed  prickles." 

"  There  are  long-tailed  Wildcats  in  our  woods  ! 
Rod  says  so,  and  I  saw  them,  for  they  come  down  to 
the  barnyard  to  get  swill,  and  they  took  some  of  the 
squabs  from  the  pigeon  house,"  said  Nat.  "  They  are 
dark  brown  and  black  striped,  and  have  fat,  bunchy 
cheeks,  and  crawl  low  down  in  the  grass,  as  if  they  tried 
to  hide." 

"  You  are  both  right  and  wrong,"  laughed  Doctor  Roy. 
"  These  cats  are  wild  in  one  sense,  because  they  live  in 
the  woods,  hunt  for  a  living,  and  are  fierce  and  shy  ;  but 
they  are  the  children  of  tamo  house  or  barn  cats  and 
no  more  like  the  real  Lynx  rufus,  than  we  should  be 
like  Indians  if  we  went  to  the  woods,  dressed  in  moc- 
casins and  blankets,  and  painted  our  faces. 

"  In  speaking  of  the  Rabbits,  I  think  I  told  you  how 
much  help  the  length  and  shape  of  their  tails  give  in 
naming  them." 

"  Yes,  I  remember,"  said  Rap  ;  "  the  Jack  had  the 
longest  tail,  and  the  Wood  Hare  a  turned-up  cotton 
tail,  and  the  Pika  not  much  of  a  tail  at  all." 

"  It  is  the  same  with  members  of  the  cat  family. 
The  tail  will  give  you  a  clew  to  the  family,  for  as  all 
these  North  American  Cats  are  more  prone  to  run  away 
than  to  face  you,  the  tail  will  be  more  familiar  than  the 
face,  so  if  3^011  see  a  Wildcat  with  a  bobtail,  you  will 
know  him  for  the  real  kind. 

"  Having  chosen  three  from  this  group  of  ten  cats, 
let  us  look  at  them.  Two  of  the  three  —  the  Puma  and 
Wildcat  —  once  ranged  over  a  considerable  part  of  the 


228  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

United  States,  touching  even  the  northern  border,  while 
the  Ocelot  always  kept  well  to  the  south,  having  once 
been  found  in  Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  but  now  in 
our  limits  has  retreated  to  or  beyond  the  Rio  Grande. 
The  Ocelot  is  a  spotted  beauty,  plucky,  and  a  real  game 
animal,  with  his  skin  as  vari-colored  and  bright  as  a 
Leopard's,  one  of  our  few  richly  colored  Mammals. 
He  is  also,  as  it  says  on  this  picture,  a  '  spotted  disas- 
ter '  to  birds  and  smaller  beasts  who  venture  in  or 
under  the  tree  where  he  chooses  a  branch  for  a  divan 
whereon  to  take  his  noontime  rest.  Mottles  of  light 
and  shadow  playing  upon  the  tree  bark  and  nestling 
in  the  moving  leaves,  help  hide  his  ten  sharp  claws 
sheathed  between  elastic  foot-pads.  His  four  cruel 
dog  teeth,  covered  by  the  tightly  shut  whiskered  lips, 
tell  no  tales  of  the  bristle- covered  tongue  within,  that 
licks  and  licks  the  skin  of  its  prey,  until  it  is  filed 
away,  and  the  bleeding  flesh  made  ready  for  the  meal. 

"  When  he  hunts  by  stalking,  he  prefers  the  dark 
hours,  his  eyes  shining  like  lanterns.  In  truth,  the 
Ocelot  wears  a  coat  of  many  colors,  in  which  orange, 
brown,  and  yellow  blend  and  mingle  as  a  groundwork 
for  tawny,  black-edged  spots,  stripes  and  streaks  which 
cover  two  and  a  half  feet  of  bod}'  and  fifteen  inches  of 
tail.  In  habits,  he  is  more  of  a  tree  cat  than  the  others  ; 
he  too,  like  them,  is  no  carrion  eater,  only  feeding  upon 
prey  that  he  catches  himself.  See  the  crouching  figure 
with  ears  well  up,  back  feet  braced,  and  tail  lashing. 
It  is  in  the  exact  position  of  a  House  Cat  watching  a 
Mouse.  In  a  moment,  if  the  birds  pass  under  the 
tree,  there  will  be  a  spring,  a  flutter,  and  a  mass  of 
feathers  borne  to  the  ground,  and  a  meal  for  the  Ocelot. 


COUSINS   OF  CATS 


229 


House  Cat. 


"Ill  spite  of  its  climbing  propensi- 
ties, the  Ocelot  is  a  swift  runner,  and 
leads  the  dogs,  with  whom  it  was  for- 
merly always  hunted,  a  wild  chase, 
crossing  and  doubling  among  the  water- 
ways of  its  haunts  in  a  manner  to  throw 
the  keenest  hound  off  the  scent/' 

"  Now  my  three  grinning 
heads,"  said  Dodo,  gazing  at  her 
favorite  picture  ;  "are  they  three 
kinds  of  cats,  or  a  mother,  father, 
and  child?  I  think  they  look 
like  a  family." 

"  Three  different  species,"  said 
Dr.    Roy ;    "  and   the   heads   are 
drawn    in    exact    proportion,   so 
that   you   may    judge    of    their 
size.     The  smallest  is  the  House 
Cat,    an  emigrant  like    our- 
selves.    The  next  in  size  is 
the  Wildcat,  or  Bay   Lynx, 
and  the  largest  with  the  hairy 
ear  tufts  is  the  savage  Can- 
ada Lynx,  called  Loup  Cervier 
by  the  early  travellers. 

"  You  all  know  the  House 
Cat  and  its  habits  :  how  it 
purrs  when  it  is  going  to 
sleep  or  feels  pleased  ;  how 
it  sharpens  its  claws  on  car- 
pet or  wood,  drawing  them 

in     and     out     at     will  ;      how  Canada  Lynx. 


Wildcat. 


230  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

rough,  its  tongue  is  when  it  licks  your  finger.  You 
have  seen  its  eyes  shine  in  the  dark,  and  how  the  pupil 
(the  little  dark  spot  in  the  centre  that  lets  in  the 
light  to  make  it  see)  can  be  made  large  or  small.  You 
have  watched  it  steal  along  softly  on  its  hunting  trips 
as  cautiously  as  a  man,  and  you  have  seen  it  give  a 
mouse  or  bird  the  fatal  blow  with  its  heavy  paw,  that 
both  stuns  and  holds  like  a  trap.  It  is  a  cat's  skill  as  a 
bird  hunter  that  made  me  banish  it  years  ago  from  the 
farm,  for  a  terrier  will  keep  the  rats  and  mice  in  order 
quite  as  well. 

"  You  also  know,  or  at  least  I  am  sure  that  Olive 
does,  how  a  cat  steals  away  to  find  some  very  private 
place  for  a  nest  for  her  little  blind  kittens,  and  how 
much  pride  she  takes  in  cuddling  them  in  her  arms  and 
suckling  them  until  they  can  lap  milk  or  catch  mice  for 
themselves." 

"  Indeed  I  do,  for  a  cat  once  made  a  nest  on  a  shelf 
in  a  box  where  I  kept  my  best  hat  all  trimmed  with 
ostrich  feathers  and  velvet !  "  said  Olive. 

"  Our  Wildcats  seek  out  the  most  inaccessible  places 
in  rock  ledges  and  tree  hollows  as  homes  for  their  kit- 
tens. When  I  was  a  boy  I  found  a  Wildcat's  nest  in 
an  old  chestnut  log,  in  the  wood  by  the  grazing  pasture 
at  the  other  side  of  the  farm.  No,  you  need  not  look 
worried,  Dodo,  there  are  none  about  now ! 

"  It  was  the  early  part  of  May,  and  a  party  of  us  had 
gone  out  to  look  for  arbutus,  which  made  masses  of 
fragrant  pink  among  the  dead  leaves.  People  all  about 
had  been  complaining  of  the  Foxes  and  saying  that  they 
were  very  bold,  visiting  some  farm  every  night  and  yet 
leaving  no  tracks.     We  lost  chickens  and  ducks,  quite 


COUSINS   OF  CATS  231 

a  good-sized  little  pig,  and  finally  a  pair  of  tame  white, 
pink-eyed  rabbits  that  were  my  special  pride. 

"  In  going  flower  hunting  this  day  I  strayed  away 
from  the  others  to  look  for  the  thousand  and  one  things 
that  always  made  the  woods  a  fairy  picture  book  to  me. 
I  should  not  have  been  surprised  to  have  found  the  en- 
trance to  the  palace  of  the  sleeping  beauty  between  the 
rocks,  but  instead  of  Beauty  I  found  a  Beast !  " 

"  Oh,  uncle,  you  are  joking;  all  those  were  dream  sto- 
ries that  never  really  happened,"  said  Dodo,  solemnly. 

"  I  said  a  Beast,  not  the  Beast,  and  it  happened  in 
this  way.  I  was  resting  on  the  edge  of  a  moss-covered 
rock  under  the  edge  of  which  lay  the  trunk  of  an  enor- 
mous chestnut  that  had  been  blown  over  and  gone  mostly 
to  decay.  As  I  swung  my  heels  down  and  kicked  this 
trunk,  three  little  furry  heads  appeared  at  the  hollow 
in  the  end.  I  took  them  for  the  kittens  of  some  stray 
cat,  and  stooping  over  tried  to  catch  one,  but  they  gave 
a  cry  in  concert,  something  between  a  spit  and  a  yowl, 
and  disappeared  in  the  tree.  Then  I  noticed  that  the 
mossy  ground  by  the  stump  was  dug  up  and  there  was 
the  partly  covered  remains  of  one  of  my  rabbits  ! 

"  Before  I  could  think  or  put  two  and  two  together, 
I  heard  the  snapping  of  some  twigs  behind  me  on  the 
rocks,  and  as  I  turned  a  most  weird  and  unpleasant 
'  meau-11-11 '  greeted  me,  and  there  stood  a  Wildcat,  ears 
back,  jaws  snarling,  its  long  legs  braced  for  a  spring  !  I 
did  not  know  that  the  American  members  of  this  family 
will  not,  any  more  than  Wolves,  attack  man  unless 
driven  to  bay,  that  they  never  hunt  in  packs,  or  that 
the  cat  was  fully  as  much  frightened  as  I  was,  and  that 
she  had  merely  returned  home  in  a  hurry  in  answer  to 


232  FOUli-FOOTEB  AMERICANS 

the  call  of  her  kittens.  I  saw  only  a  strange  monster 
spitting  fire,  ready  to  spring  at  me,  and  imagined  I 
heard  the  cries  of  a  hundred  more  in  the  trees.  Under 
these  circumstances  it  was  not  strange  that  I  ran  back 
to  my  companions,  with  such  a  tale  of  horror  that  the 
whole  party  hurried  home  as  fast  as  possible  to  spread 
the  news,  not  daring  to  look  behind  them,  and  spilling 
arbutus  blossoms  like  a  paper  chase  trail  over  three 
miles  of  road. 

. "  Our  parents  wisely  decided  that  I  must  have  seen 
one  Wildcat,  if  not  a  whole  army,  and  concluding  that 
the  missing  poultry  could  only  have  been  taken  by  a 
beast  that  climbed,  organized  a  hunting  party  composed 
of  six  mixed  dogs,  who  understood  the  Coon  trade,  five 
men  and  as  many  rifles,  while  I  was  allowed  to  follow. 
The  mother  Cat  was  easily  treed  and  quickly  shot  ow- 
ing to  her  unwillingness  to  leave  the  neighborhood  of 
her  log  house.  I  had  begged  for  the  kittens  to  tame 
for  pets,  so  they  were  poked  out  of  the  log  and  put  in 
a  bag. 

"All  of  a  sudden,  as  we  turned  toward  a  path  to 
leave  the  wood  by  a  different  way,  our  old  hound  Trum- 
peter put  his  nose  to  the  ground  and  started  off  like  a 
shot,  the  less  well-bred  pack  following  at  his  heels. 

"  '  Go  home  with  your  bag  of  kittens,'  said  my  father, 
in  a  tone  that  brooked  no  argument,  as  he  dashed  after 
the  dogs.  Though  it  was  a  lonely  walk,  the  bag  was 
heavy,  and  the  kittens  clawed  and  quarrelled,  there 
was  nothing  for  me  to  do  but  go. 

"  Sundown  came,  no  father ;  the  moon  rose,  and  the 
wives  of  the  four  other  hunters  gathered  at  our  house, 
and  sat  solemnly  in  the  sitting-room  (now  my  wonder 


COUSINS   OF  CATS  233 

room),  where,  Dodo,  your  mother,  then  a  small  baby, 
was  asleep  in  her  cradle.  At  ten  o'clock  they  went  to 
their  homes,  while  I  peeped  at  them  from  the  hall 
window,  and  finally  went  to  bed,  dreaming  of  Wolves, 
Indians,  and  Lions. 

"  About  half-past  seven  the  next  morning  the  party 
returned,  father  carrying  Trumpeter  over  his  shoulder, 
and  our  neighbors  the  pair  of  Wildcats.  They  had 
followed  the  trail  upon  which  our  hound  had  started 
nearly  all  night,  in  and  out  of  brush,  marsh,  and  wood. 
When  the  male  cat  was  finally  brought  to  .bay,  Trum- 
peter, not  distinguishing  between  this  savage  beast  and 
the  usual  Coon,  had  attacked  him,  only  to  be  painfully 
wounded,  and  then  a  bullet  had  killed  the  second  of 
this  pair  of  robbers. 

"  I  can  remember  now  exactly  how  the  Wildcat 
looked,  as  it  lay  on  the  door  stone,  for  they  gave  the 
female  to  me  because  I  first  saw  it.  It  was  nearly 
three  feet  long  from  nose  to  root  of  tail,  which'  was, 
perhaps,  a  little  over  six  inches.  It  had  a  round  head 
and  large  pointed  ears,  from  which  the  long  winter 
hairs  were  not  completely  shed.  Its  long  body  was 
covered  with  brindled,  barred,  and  mottled  fur,  of  light 
and  dark  brown,  rusty  and  gray.  Its  legs  and  feet 
seemed  long  and  large  compared  to  its  lean  muscular 
body.  My  father  kept  the  skin  of  this  cat  and  tanned 
it,  and,  old  and  worn,  there  it  is  now  on  the  settle  !  " 

"  Only  think,"  said  Nat,  as  the  children  began  to 
handle  the  pelt  and  stroke  it  eagerl}r,  "  this  old  skin 
once  lived  in  our  woods  and  frightened  Uncle  Roy  !  " 

"  Did  Trumpeter  get  well,  and  what  became  of  the 
kittens  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 


234  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Trumpeter  was  bandaged  up  and  cured  after  a 
while,  but  it  was  months  before  he  would  go  near  the 
cat  skin,  which  lay  on  the  back  of  the  parlor  sofa. 
The  kittens  soon  grew  very  sly  and  vicious,  and  father 
gave  them  to  a  travelling  showman  who  came  to  East 
Village." 

"  Where  do  Wildcats  live  now  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  They  are  scattered  quite  evenly  over  the  wilder  parts 
of  the  middle  country  from  the  south  up,  haunting 
places  where  small  Mammals  or  game  birds  can  be  had, 
but  they  are  nowhere  common  enough  to  cause  trouble." 

"Now  the  nicest  cat  picture  of  all,"  said  Rap,  "the 
Puma  and  the  Elk.  The  Puma  doesn't  look  much  like 
a  Cat  —  is  more  like  the  postmaster's  old  lean  mastiff." 

"  You  make  a  good  comparison  there,  my  boy,"  said 
the  Doctor  ;  "  except  that  it  has  shorter  legs  and  larger 
feet,  and  a  tuft  on  the  end  of  its  tail,  this  Puma  is  very 
much  the  same  size  and  color  as  that  dog. 

"  Imagine  an  animal  like  old  Max  weighing  from  150 
to  200  pounds,  with  the  spring  and  strength  of  a  bundle 
of  steel  springs,  feet  heavy  enough  to  fell  a  man  with  a 
blow,  and  armed  with  the  most  powerful  movable  claws. 
Having  more  leaping  agility  than  any  American  four- 
foot,  clearing  twenty  feet  easily  on  a  level,  and  in  a 
downward  leap  able  to  cover  sixty  feet,  and  you  will 
have  a  picture  of  the  Puma,  as  the  Wise  Men  prefer  to 
call  him,  though  he  is  known  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  as  Panther,  Mountain  Lion,  and  Cougar.  The 
Puma  varies  very  much  in  size,  those  found  in  the  south 
being  larger  than  their  northerly  brothers." 

"Why  is  that?"  asked  Rap.  "Among  Wolves  the 
northerly  ones  were  the  biggest." 


COUSINS   OF  CATS  235 

"  The  dog  family  likes  a  cool  climate  and  the  cats 
prefer  a  warm  one.  Even  though  the  Puma  is  hardy, 
and  can  live  in  all  climates,  one  of  the  Wise  Men  says 
that  an  animal  always  grows  the  largest  in  the  climate 
that  best  suits  him. 

"  The  Puma  sharpens  its  claws  on  the  bark  of  trees 
or  the  earth,  and  purrs  when  pleased ;  both  these 
instincts  are  found  in  his  tame  cousin,  the  House  Cat, 
who  provokes  her  owners  often  by  scratching  the  carpet. 
Their  fur  changes  color  somewhat  according  to  season, 
and  the  young  wear  mottled  coats  at  first,  like  young 
Deer." 

"  I  suppose  he  only  lives  in  very  far-away  wild 
places,"  said  Rap. 

"Now  his  haunts  are  almost  altogether  confined  to 
the  rocky  and  wooded  parts  of  the  west  and  southwest ; 
but  not  so  many  years  ago  he  ranged  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  eastern  coast  and  was  plentiful  in  the 
Adirondacks,  in  places  where  people  now  have  camps 
and  cottages. 

"  The  Puma  is  feared  by  all  other  beasts  except  a 
Bear  or  a  Deer  with  fully  grown  antlers,  for  it  both  at- 
tacks the  throat  and  gives  killing  blows  with  its  heavy 
paws.  But  the  Puma  keeps  to  the  wildest  places  and 
where  it  was  plentiful  the  Wildcat  was  usually  rare." 

"  If  they  lived  in  such  lonely  places,  how  did  they 
come  to  be  killed  out  ?  "  asked  Olive. 

"  Because,  wherever  they  were  seen,  they  frightened 
people  so  much  that  they  were  killed  whenever  possible. 
Then  they  had  but  two,  or  at  most  four,  little  ones  in 
their  rocky  lair  every  other  year,  and  these  took  two  or 
three  years  to  become  fully  grown,  so  the  race  increased 


236  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

very  slowly.  The  only  wonder  is  that  there  are  so 
many  left,  for  they  are  not  long-lived  animals,  seldom 
living  more  than  fifteen  years." 

"  Didn't  they  eat  a  great  many  people  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  No,  like  the  Wolves  they  dread  firearms  and  seldom 
or  never  attack  man  in  spite  of  all  the  wonderful  stories 
you  will  hear  to  the  contrary.  The  greatest  harm  they 
did  was  to  kill  food  animals  upon  which  man  depended. 
Deer,  young  Elk,  and  also  calves,  they  destroyed  easily, 
as  well  as  sheep  and  pigs,  and  they  have  been  known 
to  capture,  kill,  and  drag  away  to  a  private  feeding  spot 
a  beast  almost  twice  their  own  size.  The  Puma  has  one 
good  quality,  —  it  is  not  a  wasteful  feeder,  never  taking 
new  prey  while  it  has  a  supply  of  food  on  hand. 

"  It  is  as  a  hunter  that  the  Puma  shows  the  most  in- 
telligence. He  is  a  fair  hunter,  watching  signs,  wait- 
ing until  he  can  get  to  windward  of  his  prey,  then 
creeping  slowly  upon  it  and  preparing  for  the  spring, 
as  the  human  hunter  stalks  and  waits  for  the  right 
moment  to  shoot.  It  is  upon  his  wonderful  leap  that 
the  Puma  depends  for  his  success  ;  he  is  too  heavy  of 
paw  and  too  short  of  breath  to  be  a  fast  runner.  He 
may  trust  to  one,  two,  or  three  springs  to  catch  up  with 
his  flying  prey,  then  if  he  does  not  overtake  it  he 
does  not  follow  it  further.  It  is  this  lack  of  speed 
which  allows  dogs  and  men  afoot  to  drive  him  to  cover, 
though  of  course  he  has  the  advantage  of  being  able  to 
cross  chasms  on  logs  and  to  descend  steeps  by  means  of 
trees.  Young  Deer  are  perhaps  the  Puma's  favorite 
food,  though  he  does  not  despise  any  animal  food,  and 
often  makes  a  meal  of  that  four-legged  cactus,  the 
Porcupine.      Do  you    remember  how  Wolves  trapped 


Puma  hunting  Elk. 


COUSINS   OF  CATS  237 

the  Deer,  one  chasing  it  in  a  circle  while  the  other  lay 
hidden  in  the  runway  to  pull  it  down  as  it  passed  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,  we  all  do  ! "  chorused  the  children. 

"  The  Puma  hunts  singly  more  than  in  couples,  so 
instead  of  driving  the  Deer  or  Elk  (it  never  tries  a  fully 
grown  Moose)  it  notes  the  runway  and  waits  for  the  Deer 
to  pass  the  spot  where  it  is  crouching.  A  successful 
spring  will  land  the  Puma  on  the  haunches  of  his  vic- 
tim, where  lie  fastens  his  claws  until  he  can  give  the 
killing  throat  bite.  But  oftentimes  the  Deer  starts 
quickly  and  the  Puma  is  'too  late,'  and  the  Elk  escapes, 
like  those  in  the  picture. 

"  In  snow  time  alone,  the  Puma  seems  to  hunt  by 
chasing  as  well  as  by  the  stalk  and  leap.  He  can 
spread  his  broad  paws  so  as  to  make  snow-shoes  of  them, 
keeping  on  the  surface  while  the  small,  sharp  hoofs  of 
the  Deer  cause  them  to  sink.  In  this  again  he  hunts 
like  some  sportsmen,  who  take  a  mean  advantage  of  the 
heavy  Moose  and  Elk  ploughing  wearily  through  deep 
snow,  to  follow  them  on  snow-shoes  without  having  the 
Puma's  rightful  excuse  of  hunger." 

The  children  laid  the  Ocelot,  Wildcat,  and  Puma 
skins  on  the  floor,  comparing  and  talking  about  them, 
while  Olive  went  for  the  crackers  to  toast. 

Finally  Dodo  folded  her  arms,  looked  up  with  a  sigh, 
and  said  solemnly,  "  Even  if  Pumas  do  not  eat  people, 
I'm  very  much  relieved  to  know  that  they  have  re- 
treated a  long  way  inland,"  being  perfectly  unconscious 
that  she  was  imitating  Dr.  Roy's  speech  and  deliberate 
manner,  and  not  understanding  why  he  laughed  so 
heartily  that  his  "  near  to "  eye-glasses  bounced  into 
the  fire. 


XVII 

THREE    HARDY    MOUNTAINEERS 


AY  I  choose  that  deer  with 
the  smoke  coming  out  of 
his  nose?"  said  Dodo  to 
Rap,  as  he  was  turning 
over  the  pictures  the  next 
Saturday  evening.  "  I 
don't  understand  one  bit 
about  the  different  horns, 
—  the  cow's  that  stay  on 
and  the  Deer's  horns  that  fall  off." 

"  Doctor  Roy  says  we  must  ask  Nez  for  the  story  to 
that  picture.  I  am  looking  to  see  if  I  can  find  any 
cousins  of  the  farm  animals ;  it  seems  as  if  there  must 
be  some.  Yes,  here  are  two,  —  a  Sheep  with  monstrous 
horns  and  a  white  Goat !  " 

"  ( )h,  uncle  !  daddy  !  "  called  Dodo,  "  we  have  found 
wild  relations  of  Nanny  Baa  and  Corney  !  " 

"  Yes,"  added  Rap,  "  and  beside  in  the  Sheep  picture 
there  is  Billy  Goon's  cousin,  a  great  fat  Bear." 

"  So  you  have  come  to  three  of  our  famous  '  big 
game '  fourfoots  in  a  bunch,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  "  and  I 
suppose  you  want  me  to  take  you  hunting  to-night. 
Very  well,  we  will  go,  only  you   must  put  on  stout 

238 


THREE  HARDY  MOUNTAINEERS  239 

clothes,  thick,  easy  shoes,  or  moccasins,  bring  a  pair  of 
skees  apiece,  and  be  prepared  for  climbing  up  hill  for 
miles  and  sleeping  out  doors  many  nights." 

"  What  are  skees  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  They  are  foot  gear  ;  an  Old-World  invention,  half 
skate,  half  snow-shoe,  like  a  pair  of  small  foot-tobog- 
gans, that  Rocky  Mountain  hunters  use  in  icy  weather." 

"  Then  these  '  big  game '  animals  live  'way  out  west 
in  the  Rocky  Mountains  !  I  know  those  mountains," 
said  Dodo  ;  "  they  hump  up  all  the  way  from  Alaska 
down  to  Mexico.  But  people  need  not  walk  ;  couldn't 
they  go  there  by  train,  daddy  ?  " 

"You  can  go  for  a  week  or  more  by  train.  Then  at 
the  end  of  a  week  of  horseback  riding  and  walking- 
mixed,  you  will  be  lucky  if  you  see  the  plump,  round 
body,  and  the  great  curved  horns  that  give  the  name 
of  Bighorn  to  this  Mountain  Sheep,  the  shyest  of  all 
our  fonrfoots. 

"  Some  day,  if  I  do  not  grow  too  old  and  stiff,  and 
if  the  wasteful  Wolf  Hunters  have  not  dragged  dyna- 
mite guns  up  the  mountains  and  bombarded  them  all 
out,  I  hope  to  take  Nat  to  see  this  Bighorn  and  the 
Mountain  Goat  at  home.  For  to-night  you  must  be 
content  with  a  story." 

"  The  big  Bear,  does  he  live  as  far  up  and  away  as 
the  others  ?  " 

"  He  lives  in  and  also  below  their  ranges,  but  nowa- 
days one  must  usually  look  much  further  for  a  Grizzly, 
such  as  the  one  who  is  peering  at  the  Bighorn  in  the 
picture,  than  for  either  the  Sheep  or  Goats.  The 
Grizzly  is  a  flesh  eater,  with  an  enormous  appetite  for 
everything  else  eatable  —  from  wild  berries  to  hone}— 


240  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

comb.  He  is  sometimes  tempted  to  come  near  farms, 
camps,  and  houses,  to  pick  up  dainty  titbits,  while  the 
Sheep  and  Goats,  being  hollow-horned  cud-chewers, 
belonging  to  the  meat  family,  like  the  Bison,  are  not 
often  tempted  from  their  lofty  grazing  grounds ;  but 
his  foot  leaves  no  sound  and  he  comes  and  goes  unseen. 

"  In  the  great  National  Park  of  the  Yellowstone 
River,  where  the  Government,  by  offering  protection, 
is  trying  to  coax  the  '  big  game '  to  make  itself  into  a 
Zoological  Garden,  —  there  is  a  hotel  where  people 
may  stay  who  wish  to  see  the  wonders  of  the  country 
without  too  much  trouble.  The  waste  food  and  refuse 
of  this  house  is  carried  to  a  heap  not  far  away." 

"  A  swill  heap,  you  mean,  don't  you,  daddy  ?  "  asked 
Dodo.  "  I  shouldn't  think  the  Government  would 
allow  a  swill  heap  in  a  Park.  Uncle  won't  have  one 
on  the  farm  ;  he  says  '  they  are  perfectly  barbarous 
things,  that  make  pestilence  and  flies,'  so  the  pigs  have 
the  clean  scraps  and  everything  else  is  buried  !  " 

"  You  are  right  there,"  laughed  Mr.  Blake,  "  and  it 
is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  odor  of  this  swill 
heap,  attractive  at  least  from  their  point  of  view,  that 
lures  the  Bears,  both  Black  and  Grizzly,  from  their 
rocky  dens  to  come  and  feast  within  eye-shot  of  Houso 
People." 

"  Then  I  should  think  the  people  could  shoot  them,'" 
said  Nat. 

"  No  guns  are  allowed  in  the  Park,  that  is  one  reason 
why  the  Bears  are  so  fearless." 

"  But  I  should  think  the  Bears  and  Panthers  and 
little  nuisance  animals  would  grow  to  be  too  many,  and 
eat  up  the  Deer  and  other  fourfoots." 


Grizzly  Beau  and  Bighokn  Sheep. 


THREE  HARDY  MOUNTAINEERS  241 

"  They  may  in  time,  but  the  idea,  I  believe,  is  to  trap 
the  larger  beasts  if  they  increase  too  freely  and  send 
them  to  Zoological  Gardens  where  people  may  see 
them." 

"  How  long  do  wild  animals  live  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  That  depends  upon  the  species.  House  Cats  and 
Dogs,  you  know,  are  considered  quite  old  at  twelve,  and 
seldom  live  longer  than  fifteen  years.  Horses  will 
average  twenty-five,  while  on  the  other  hand  Squirrels 
and  Rabbits  are  old  at  seven  or  eight." 

"  How  long  do  Bears  live  ?  " 

"  Perhaps  twenty  or  twenty-five  years,  but  it  is  very 
difficult  to  judge  about  wild  animals.  It  is  impossible 
to  keep  track  of  them  out  of  doors.  In  confinement 
they  are  seldom  perfectly  healthy,  and  so  do  not  live 
out  their  natural  lives.  In  fact,  among  these  flesh-eating 
four-foots,  every  one  eats  some  one  else,  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  very  few  live  to  die  of  old  age." 

"  Do  Grizzly  Bears  and  Bighorns  and  Goats  live  no- 
where but  in  the  Rockies  ?  " 

"  Grizzlies  were  once  found  in  all  the  mountains  and 
foothills  of  the  west  from  Mexico  north  to  the  Barren 
Grounds.  They  did  not  always  stay  in  the  mountains 
either,  but  came  across  open  country,  poking  their  noses 
most  unpleasantly  into  the  affairs  of  prairie  travellers, 
and  carrying  consternation  into  the  very  glare  of  the 
campfire. 

"Now  'old  Ephraim,'  as  the  Grizzly  is  nicknamed, 
has  been  driven  from  his  more  southerly  haunts  only  to 
increase  and  thrive  mightily  in  the  cold  northwest  ter- 
ritory, where  the  largest  are  found.  When  a  Grizzly 
Bear  undertakes  to  growT  as  large  as  he  can,  then  tca^s 


242  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

warning,  sheep,  range  cattle,  and  huntsmen  !  Of  all 
the  ferocious,  unstopable,  persistent,  disagreeable  beasts 
of  North  America,  this  Bear  is  the  chief  !  Compared 
to  him  the  Polar  Bear  is  a  cat  and  the  Black  Bear  a 
kitten  ;  small  wonder  then  that  the  Wise  Men  named 
him  '  horribilis  '  /" 

"  I  think  you  must  have  met  a  Grizzly  out  walking," 
said  Dodo,  "  so  you  can  tell  us  about  him.  How  big 
was  he  and  how  did  he  look  ?  " 

"  He  looked  as  big  as  a  load  of  hay  ambling  along, 
but  he  measured,  after  our  battle  was  over,  about  nine 
feet  from  nose  to  tail,  and  stood  four  feet  high  at  the 
shoulder.  As  he  could  not  have  changed  in  size  dur- 
ing an  hour,  it  proves  what  I  have  always  said,  that 
going  either  hunting  or  fishing  turns  human  eyes  into 
magnifying  glasses,  making  them  see  double  at  the  very 
least. 

"  The  rough  hairy  fur  of  the  Grizzly  varies  so  much 
in  color  that  hunters,  judging  by  sight  alone,  often  in- 
sist that  he  is  several  kinds  of  bear  instead  of  one. 
You  all  know  that  you  cannot  judge  by  appearances 
in  studying  animals  ;  if  you  did,  you  would  call  the 
Whale  a  big  fish,  never  guessing  that  it  is  just  as  much 
a  Mammal  as  a  cow. 

"  The  Grizzly's  summer  coat  is  short,  brindled  brown, 
and  his  winter,  long,  heavy,  and  a  buffy  brown,  not  griz- 
zled gray  as  some  people  think.  Grizzly,  a  Wise  Man 
says,  means  horrible,  and  should  be  spelled  g-r-i-s-1-y. 
A  faded  brown  will  be  the  color  of  those  you  are  likely 
to  see  in  menageries.  This  Bear  has  a  heavy  head,  a 
rather  wolflike  face,  with  full  cheek  tufts  of  fur  bush- 
ing out  well  up  to  the  ears,  and  eyes  that  express  the 


THREE  HARDY  MOUNTAINEERS  243 

deep  cunning  that  looks  like  stupidity.  He  walks  usu- 
ally on  all  fours,  but  can  also  charge  standing  upright, 
looking  like  some  giant  or  ogre  in  a  fairy  tale. 

"  His  broad  footprints,  for  he  is  a  sole  walker,  also 
have  something  strangely  human  about  them,  and  hunt- 
ers, fancying  that  they  looked  like  moccasin  tracks, 
dubbed  the  Grizzly  'Moccasin  Joe.'  But  the  likeness 
to  a  foot  disappears  when  you  see  the  long,  cruel  claws 
that  end  the  toes  —  claws  that  are  both  weapons  for 
tearing  and  tools  for  digging  roots,  hollowing  out  a 
den  for  the  winter  sleep,  or  burying  the  food  he  cannot 
eat  at  once." 

"  Do  big  Bears  like  this  have  to  sleep  in  winter  ?  I 
should  think  they  could  keep  warm  enough  to  stay 
awake  with  such  a  thick  coat,"  said  Nat. 

"  In  the  cooler  parts  of  the  country  they  '  den  up,'  — - 
the  length  of  time  they  stay  in  varying  from  a  few  weeks 
to  six  months,  and  depending  upon  the  weather.  When 
a  Bear  makes  up  his  mind  to  go  to  sleep,  he  is  generally 
very  fat  and  his  fur  is  at  its  best.  I'm  quite  sure  a  thin 
Bear  would  have  sense  enough  not  to  risk  curling  up 
until  he  had  collected  some  fat  about  his  bones  to  feed 
his  winter  life  fire. 

"Now  you  must  imagine  a  picture  of  Moccasin  Joe 
in  addition  to  the  drawing,  then  take  a  good  look  at 
the  Bighorn  and  Mountain  Goat,  for  it  was  in  hunting 
for  one  of  these  two  that  I  met  a  Grizzly  '  out  walk- 
ing," as  Dodo  says. 

"'  The  Bighorn  is  a  shapely,  well-built  f  ourf oot,  about 
the  size  of  a  year-old  heifer  (or  in  round  numbers  three 
and  a  half  feet  to  the  shoulder),  with  all  the  firm  plump- 
ness of  a  sheep,  having  the   poise  and  swiftness  of  a 


244  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Deer,  and  wearing  such  wonderful  horns  that  he  would 
be  a  marked  animal  in  any  country.  So  heavy  are 
these  horns  that  nature  does  not  oblige  the  female  to 
carry  them,  giving  her  a  much  smaller  pair.  It  is  suf- 
ficient for  the  males,  who  wage  war  with  each  other 
and  upon  beasts  of  prey,  to  have  such  weapons.  Then, 
too,  the  small  horns  of  the  female  tell  the  hunter  who 
she  is,  and  if  he  is  a  true  sportsman  he  will  never  shoot 
her  or  her  young,  unless  he  is  either  starving  or  needs 
her  very  badly  to  complete  some  family  group  in  a 
museum. 

"The  coat  of  the  Bighorn  is  of  a  bluish  dirt  gray,  the 
rump  is  whitish,  thick  and  fleecy  beneath,  thicker  on 
the  neck  and  shoulders  than  on  the  flanks,  and  thatched 
with  a  brittle,  strawlike  outer  coat.  In  fact,  at  a  dis- 
tance, if  he  is  standing,  the  whole  animal  looks  white, 
but  in  lying  down  seems  to  melt  suddenly  into  his  sur- 
roundings. He  is  not  only  a  gamey,  alert  animal,  but 
looks  it ;  he  has  the  air  of  a  mountain  lover,  whose  great- 
est joy  is  to  climb  a  high  peak  and  turn  his  straw-colored 
eyes  toward  the  view.  This  habit  of  course  makes  him 
doubly  hard  to  kill,  for  the  hunter  not  only  has  to 
climb,  but  the  Sheep  can  see  everything  from  his  rocky 
outpost,  and  the  chances  are  that,  unless  the  sportsman 
crawls  on  the  ground  for  miles  from  cover  to  cover, 
making  himself  as  flat  as  a  Woodchuck,  when  he 
arrives  within  shooting  distance  of  where  the  Sheep 
was,  he  will  see  it  calmty  watching  him  from  another 
pinnacle  a  mile  further  up." 

"  I  suppose  they  can  jump  just  like  Panthers  and  get 
over  places  that  people  couldn't  cross,"  said  Rap. 

"  They   are   agile   and  quick  runners  and  can  jump 


TIIBEE  HARDY  MOUNTAINEERS  245 

moderately,  but  when  they  wish  to  go  down  a  steep 
place,  they  set  their  feet  and  coast,  for  the  shock  of 
jumping  so  far  would  kill  them,  even  if  their  bones 
were  not  all  broken. 

"So  hardy  is  the  Bighorn  and  family  that  the  lambs 
born  in  the  early  spring  go  slipping  over  the  ice  after 
their  parents  as  soon  as  their  legs  can  bear  them,  never 
dreaming  of  feeling  cold." 

"  If  they  are  hardy  and  live  so  far  away,  I  shouldn't 
think  there  would  be  any  danger  of  their  dying  out," 
said  Rap. 

"  You  would  not  think  so,  and  yet  they  yield  such 
delicious  mutton  that  they  are  persecuted  by  all  the 
flesh-eating  animals  who  are  able  to  take  them,  in  addi- 
tion to  man. 

"The  Mountain  Goat,  on  the  contrary,  is  said,  by 
those  who  know,  to  be  holding  his  own  better.  His 
flesh  is  tough  and  strong-flavored,  and  his  heavy  coat 
of  thick  under-fur  and  rough  white  hair,  that  makes 
him  look  as  clumsy  as  a  miniature  Bison,  is  of  little 
value  as  a  pelt.  The  Indians,  who  used  to  make  robes 
of  it,  prefer  the  woven  blankets  obtained  at  the  trading 
stations,  and  so  leave  him  comparatively  alone  in  his 
dizzy  pastures." 

"  The  Goat  doesn't  look  as  if  he  would  be  a  good 
climber,"  said  Rap,  studying  the  picture.  "  He  is 
short-legged  and  clumsy  and  has  a  humpy  neck  like 
a  Bison,  and  his  head  pokes  so  far  forward  that  I 
shouldn't  think  he  could  see  behind  him.  He  looks 
as  if  he  would  like  a  nice,  comfortable  pasture  like  farm 
cattle!  " 

"  His  looks  belie  him,  sure  enough!     He  is  a  foot  less 


246  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

tall  than  the  Bighorn,  and  his  smooth  black  horns  do 
not  look  powerful,  but  if  I  could  show  you  one  of  his 
hoofs,  you  would  see  how  he  manages  to  cling  to  the 
face  of  almost  upright  rocks. 

"  This  hoof  has  a  soft  clinging  cushion  in  the  middle 
and  an  edge  sharp  as  a  skate  ;  the  foot  of  one  of  the 
few  animals  who  in  bitterest  weather  declines  all  shel- 
ter, and  often  lies  down  in  the  middle  of  a  frozen  pool 
in  face  of  cutting  wind,  acting  as  if  he  enjoyed  it." 

"  Why  doesn't  he  freeze  to  the  ice  and  die  ?  "  asked 
Dodo. 

"  That  is  a  question  I  cannot  answer.  He  and  his 
cousin,  the  Musk  Ox,  have  the  secret  of  keeping  warm 
that  nature  taught  their  race  in  the  bygone  age  of  ice. 
But  you  can  understand  how  interesting  the  Bighorn 
and  Mountain  Goat  are,  and  see  why,  being  within  a 
few  hundred  miles  of  their  haunts,  I  determined  to  find 
them,  crossing  the  Bad  Lands  to  the  mountains  where 
I  had  friends,  without  desiring  to  meet  the  Grizzly, 
who  introduced  himself  to  me  quite  unexpectedly." 

"  What  are  Bad  Lands  ?  "  asked  Nat.  "  Places  full 
of  robbers  ?  " 

"  No;  Bad  Lands  are  the  parts  of  the  country,  beauti- 
ful to  see  from  the  distance,  but  where  there  is  so  little 
moisture  that  few  things  better  than  cacti  and  such 
like  plants  will  thrive.  The  lime-filled,  parti-colored 
soil  being  filled  with  cracks  and  canons,  it  is  a  region 
good  for  game  but  bad  for  the  farmer,  bad  for  the  cattle 
raiser  and  very  bad  for  the  sportsman  who,  if  overtaken 
by  darkness,  must  make  his  camp  where  he  is,  for  there 
are  no  tree  signs  to  guide  him  on  his  way." 

"  Are  these  Bad  Lands  all  in  one  place  ?  "  asked  Nat. 


Mountain  Goats. 


THREE  HARDY  MOUNTAINEERS  247 

"  I  should  think,  if  they  are,  the  Government  could  put 
a  fence  around  them  to  keep  people  from  straying  in." 

"  That  would  be  a  fine  piece  of  work,"  said  Mr.  Blake, 
laughing.  "  Imagine  putting  a  fence  around  an  irreg- 
ular strip,  that  runs  east  of  the  Rockies,  making  all 
sorts  of  side  excursions,  from  Canada  to  Mexico,  and 
containing  more  than  a  million  square  miles!  It  would 
take  all  the  trees  in  Canada  for  fence  posts,  and  the 
first  post  would  be  old  and  decayed  before  the  last  was 
put  in.      But  let  us  return  to  our  story. 

"  It  was  in  early  summer,  and  the  party  I  had  joined 
was  fairly  located  for  making  a  railway  survey  across 
the  Cascade  Mountains,  not  far  southeast  of  Seattle,  in 
what  is  now  the  state  of  Washington.  Look  at  your 
map  and  you  will  find  that  these  mountains,  named 
from  the  streams  of  clear,  cold  water  dashing  down 
their  slopes,  lie  between  the  Rockies  and  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  are  about  as  far  west  as  any  mountains  ex- 
cept the  Olympic  group. 

'  "  While  the  camp  was  waiting  for  some  instruments 
that  had  not  arrived,  three  or  four  of  us  determined  to 
do  a  little  surveying  for  Sheep  and  Goats  on  our  own 
account.  After  keeping  together  for  two  days  and 
nights,  until  we  had  worked  our  waj^  well  up,  we  de- 
cided to  divide,  three  of  the  party  to  continue  on 
above  timber-line  after  the  Goats,  while  I,  accompanied 
by  Crawling  Joe,  a  typical  mountaineer  engaged  by  our 
camp  as  a  guide,  meat  provider,  and  useful  man,  was  to 
go  southward  along  the  ledges  toward  some  woodlands 
and  plateaus  where  Bighorns  were  likely  to  graze." 

"  Why  was  the  man  called  Crawling  Joe  ? "  asked 
Dodo. 


248  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

"  Because  of  his  way  of  hunting  Indian-fashion.  No 
matter  which  way  the  wind  blew,  when  he  had  once 
located  an  animal,  whether  it  was  Bighorn,  Moose,  or 
Elk,  he  would  manage  to  crawl  and  tack  up  against 
the  wind  within  shooting  distance  of  it.  In  doing 
this  for  years  he  had  acquired  the  cunning  of  a  snake, 
and  would  often  appear  by  the  campfire  as  suddenly 
as  if  he  had  come  through  the  ground. 

"  This  particular  day  he  insisted  that  we  should 
leave  the  horses  behind  and  go  on  foot,  as  the  rolling  of 
stones  and  other  like  sounds,  made  even  by  the  most 
sure-footed  horses,  might  prevent  our  getting  a  sight 
of  our  game.  I  carried  nothing  but  my  pet  Winchester, 
but  Joe  shouldered  a  small  pack  sufficient  for  a  night's 
camping.  After  climbing  pretty  steadily  for  four 
hours,  we  sat  down  to  rest  and  eat  our  dinner  of  cold 
food.  Finding  shelter  at  the  edge  of  a  belt  of  spruces, 
where  there  was  also  water,  we  resolved  to  camp  there 
that  night  and  so  left  the  pack  in  a  tree  until  our  re- 
turn, out  of  the  reach  of  inquisitive  Bears,  if  any  should 
pass  that  way. 

"  Our  stalk  for  Bighorns  began  about  one  o'clock ; 
Joe  took  the  lead,  directing  me  by  signs.  In  an  hour 
we  were  well  clear  of  the  woods,  and  skirting  a  cliff 
full  of  springs  and  caverns.  Suddenly  Joe  dropped  to 
his  knees,  motioning  me  to  do  the  same,  then  raised  his 
head  and  gave  it  an  upward  jerk.  I  looked,  and  half 
a  mile  away,  on  a  jutting  rock  that  stood  clean  against 
the  sky,  like  a  headland  against  blue  sea,  was  a  Bighorn 
ram,  as  immovable  as  if  he  were  a  part  of  the  blue  gray 
stone  itself.  A  little  back  of  him  were  some  ewes, 
lambs,  and  another  ram,  though  as  they  were  lying  down 


THREE  HARDY  MOUNTAINEERS  249 

it  was  doubly  easy  to  mistake  them  for  stones.  The 
peak  where  they  stood  was  like  an  island.  The  wind 
was  blowing  in  our  faces,  and  Joe  signalled  me  to  take 
the  left  route  while  he  turned  to  the  right,  thus  lessen- 
ing the  chance  of  the  sheep's  escape,  at  least  down  the 
mountain.  Already  I  tasted  the  rich  roast  mutton 
with  which  I  had  promised  to  feast  the  boys  of  our 
camp,  who  had  grown  tired  of  salt  meat  and  venison. 

"  I  dropped  on  my  hands  and  knees  and  began  to 
crawl  in  a  very  poor  imitation  of  Joe,  for  it  seemed  to 
me  that  every  stone  I  touched  was  either  sharp  as  a 
knife,  or  took  particular  pleasure  in  rolling  down  hill. 
After  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  this  sort  of  work,  the  ledge 
around  which  I  was  passing  was  high  enough  to  shield 
me  if  I  walked  upright,  and  this  allowed  me  to  rest  my 
strained  knees  and  elbows. 

"  As  I  paused  a  moment  to  look  about,  a  few  bones 
caught  my  eye ;  the  meat  was  picked  from  them,  but 
the  gristle  was  quite  fresh.  '  Ah,  ha,'  thought  I, '  a  Bear 
must  have  been  enjoying  some  spring  lamb !  '  I  thought 
Bear,  and  instantly  I  satv  a  Bear !  Lurching  down  the 
steep  and  stopping  directly  in  my  path  was  a  full-sized 
Grizzly,  who  was  evidently  as  surprised  as  I,  but  not 
so  frightened.  The  Bear  rose  on  its  hind  legs,  waving 
its  paws,  and  looked  at  me  slantwise.  I  returned  the 
stare  glance  for  glance,  not  knowing  what  else  to  do, 
half  expecting  the  beast  to  run,  as  most  fourfoots  will, 
and  feeling  backward  at  the  same  time  for  a  footing 
that  would  give  me  range  enough  to  use  my  rifle. 

"As  I  took  a  step  backward  the  Bear  stepped  forward 
growling.  I  had  made  a  mistake ;  a  female  Grizzly 
with  two  or  three  hungry  cubs  in  her  den  does  not  run 


250  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

that  she  may  live  to  fight,  she  stays  to  kill  that  she  may 
eat.  Oh  !  for  a  tree  !  If  there  had  been  one  in  sight 
I  would  have  risked  running  for  it,  as  Grizzlies  are  not 
good  climbers  like  the  Black  Bear ;  but  there  I  was, 
1  could  neither  run  nor  shoot.  My  enemy  gave  a  grin 
and  a  growl  and  took  another  step  forward,  clawing  at 
me.  I  dared  not  lift  ray  rifle  to  my  shoulder,  lest  she 
should  grab  the  muzzle,  but  I  managed  to  grasp  the 
barrel,  and  swinging  it  round  brought  the  butt  down  on 
the  Grizzly's  nose  with  a  heavy  blow.  She  was  only 
enraged  by  it,  not  stunned,  and  gave  a  growl,  gnashing 
her  teeth  with  a  horrible  noise.  For  a  moment  I  ex- 
pected no  other  fate  than  to  become  the  supper  for  the 
little  Bears  ! 

"  Something  cold  slipped  along  my  shoulder  and 
touched  my  cheek.  Fortunately  I  had  sufficient  nerve 
not  to  turn — there  was  a  sharp  report  close  to  my 
head  that  made  me  deaf  and  kept  my  ears  ringing  for 
months  afterward,  but  the  Bear  pitched  forward,  just 
clearing  me,  and  rolled  down  the  rocks  to  a  ledge  below, 
shot  through  her  wicked  eye. 

"  Then  I  turned.  Joe  was  behind  me,  calm  and  cool 
as  if  he  had  merely  shot  a  Squirrel. 

" '  I  saw  her  a-comin'  from  the  open  yonder,  and  I 
reckoned  you'd  be  wantin'  me  'bout  now.  Never  mind 
skinnin'  her  until  we  get  our  Bighorn  —  she'll  stay 
down  thar  till  we  call  fer  her  !  I  reckoned  that  shot 
would  scare  the  Bighorns,  but  it  hasn't  ;  they  must  be 
a  green  bunch  that  haven't  ever  been  hunted,'  he  said, 
looking  around  the  corner. 

"  Sure  enough  ;  the  rocks  screened  us,  and  the  ram 
had  merely  shifted  his  position,  while  the  whole  bunch 


THREE  HARDY  MOUNTAINEERS  251 

were  now  picking  at  the  tufts  of  grass  back  of  the 
rocks.  I  was  in  no  mood  for  hunting;  but  Joe  took  it 
for  granted  that  we  should  go  on,  and  the  excitement 
soon  put  the  Bear  out  of  mind. 

"  Before  dusk  we  had  killed  our  ram,  but  as  he  rolled 
and  fell  for  some  distance  down  the  cliffs  one  horn  was 
broken  off  and  the  other,  that  lies  there  on  the  mantel- 
shelf, is  the  only  trophy  you  can  have  of  the  day  when 
your  father  was  nearly  turned  into  Bear  meat !  " 

"  Oh,  daddy  !  daddy  !  "  cried  Dodo,  jumping  on  his 
knee  and  hugging  him,  "  what  should  we  have  done 
if  the  Bear  had  eaten  you?" 

"  It  was  before  you  and  Nat  had  come  to  live  with 
me.  I  haven't  taken  so  many  risks  since  I  have  had 
two  little  bears  of  my  own  to  care  for." 

"  Was  the  mutton  good,  and  did  you  get  it  back  to 
camp,  and  did  the  other  men  get  any  Goats  ?  "  asked 
Nat. 

"  Yes,  we  took  the  best  parts  of  the  ram  back  to  the 
main  camp,  also  the  skin  of  the  Grizzly.  Our  comrades 
did  not  get  anything  that  day,  though  they  did  later 
on,  and  I  also  have  a  single  Goat  horn  as  a  souvenir  to 
match  my  ram's  horn.      Hand  them  to  me,  Nat." 

Nat  stood  on  a  chair  and  reached  the  two  horns  from 
the  shelf.  One  was  fifteen  and  one-half  inches  around 
at  the  base  and  three  feet  long  on  the  outside  of  the 
curve,  rough  and  yellowish  gray,  while  the  Goat's 
horn  was  smooth,  black,  and  only  eight  inches  in 
length. 

"  You  see  that  these  two  horns  are  hollow,  from  a 
little  way  above  their  base  to  the  tip,  like  the  horns 
of  a  Buffalo  or  cow.     These  are  true  horns  and  are 


252  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

worn  by  the  animal  for  life,  unless  accident  breaks 
them  off.  They  are  made  from  a  fibrous  material  akin 
to  hair,  and  cannot  be  separated  from  the  head  without 
making  a  bleeding  wound ;  as  a  straight  branch  grows 
from  a  tree,  if  it  is  broken  a  scar  is  left  and  the  sap 
runs  out. 

"  The  antlers  of  Deer  are  not  made  of  this  libre,  but 
of  solid  bone.  They  sprout  from  the  head  of  the  male 
Deer  in  the  spring,  as  a  leaf  bud  does  from  a  twig. 
At  first  they  are  soft  and  tender  as  the  young  leaf  is. 
Then  they  grow  and  expand  in  different  shapes,  each 
according  to  its  kind,  some  being  simple  and  others 
many-pointed,  like  ferns.  All  the  summer  they  grow 
harder  and  harder,  until  in  autumn  and  early  winter 
they  are  ripe  and  fall  off  as  the  leaves  do,  leaving 
a  little  scar  through  which  the  next  year's  antlers 
sprout. 

"  There  is  one  animal  that  you  will  hear  about  soon, 
whose  horns  are  stepping-stones  between  the  hollow 
horns  and  the  solid  antlers.  Tins  is  the  Antelope,  who 
belongs  to  the  Deer  branch  of  the  meat  family,  and 
like  other  Deer  sheds  its  pronged  horns,  which  are  still 
partly  hollow  like  those  of  a  cow." 

"  What  do  you  call  them  if  they  are  half  horn  and 
half  antlers  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  The  Wise  Men  call  them  prongs,  and  sportsmen 
give  the  Antelope  the  name  of  Pronghorn." 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Blake  was  unfastening  a  little  orna- 
ment that  hung  to  his  watch-chain,  which  he  handed  to 
Dodo,  saying,  — 

"Here  is  something  I  found  the  other  day  that  I 
thought  was  lost.     Guess  what  that  is,  little  daughter." 


THBEE  HARDY  MOUNTAINEERS  253 

"  It's  a  long,  very  big  dog  tooth,"  said  Dodo,  looking 
carefully  at  the  yellow  bit  of  gold-capped  ivory  in  her 
pink  palm. 

"  Wrong  ;  it  is  a  tooth  of  the  Grizzly  that  didnt  bite 
me ! " 


XVIII 


ON   THE   PLAINS 


REPARATIONS  for  the  Christmas 
party  were  keeping  everybody  busy 
at  the  farm.  Many  mysterious 
boxes  and  bundles  kept  arriving 
from  the  city,  but  Dr.  Roy  had  in- 
sisted that  the  young  folks  should 
make  some  of  the  gifts  with  their 
own  hands.  Olive,  who  was  veiy 
deft  with  her  fingers,  had  little 
trouble  in  devising  pretty  and 
useful  things,  but  with  Dodo  and  Nat  it  was  a  different 
matter. 

A  fine,  warm  flannel  gown  was  under  construction 
for  Rap's  mother  ;  a  like  one,  only  of  a  gayer  pattern, 
was  already  finished  for  Mammy  Bun  —  that  is,  all  but 
sewing  on  the  buttons.  Mrs.  Blake  had  cut  out  the 
various  garments,  Olive  doing  the  making,  assisted  in 
straight  seams  and  easy  places  by  Dodo,  to  whom  sew- 
ing was  a  very  solemn  business.  In  fact,  she  held  her 
needle  as  tight  as  it'  she  expected  it  to  jump  out  of  her 
fingers,  and  tugged  at  the  thread  as  if  it  had  the  strength 
of  a  clothes-line,  — a  habit  that  caused  many  knots, 
broken  ends,  and,  I  must  confess,  tears. 

"  I  think  Nat  ought  to  sew  and   help  us  ;    he  isn't 

254 


ON   THE   PLAINS  255 

making  anything,"  she  had  said  one  day  after  putting 
her  mother's  patience,  and  a  seam  that  would  pucker, 
to  a  severe  trial. 

"  Phoof  !  men  never  sew,"  he  said  contemptuously, 
"  they  leave  such  easy  work  to  girls  !  " 

"  What  is  that  I  hear  ?  "  said  the  Doctor  from  behind 
his  newspaper.  "Men  never  sew?  That  is  a  great 
mistake,  young  man.  Men  are  not  ordinarily  obliged 
to  cut  and  make  their  clothes,  but  a  man  should  most 
certainly  know  how  to  use  a  needle.  If  he  is  a  doctor, 
he  must  be  able  to  sew  up  wounds  and  fasten  bandages 
neatly.  In  any  profession  he  is  apt  to  find  buttons 
missing,  even  if  modern  shirts  are  put  together  with 
studs  ;  while  as  a  woodsman,  traveller,  or  engineer,  such 
as  you  wish  to  be,  he  is  in  constant  need  of  a  stout 
needle  and  thread  ;  a  tent  cover  rips,  a  gun  case  is 
torn,  thorns  cut  the  clothing.  A  man  may  not  sit 
down  in  the  wilderness  and  wait  for  a  woman  to  come 
by  with  thimble  and  scissors. 

"  I  think  it  will  be  an  excellent  thing,  Nat,  for  you 
to  learn  to  sew,  and  you  can  begin  at  once  by  putting 
the  various  buttons  on  these  wrappers  and  aprons.  1 
will  teach  you  how  myself."  "  Very  well,  I  will,"  said 
Nat,  remembering  that  he  and  Rap  were  planning  to 
make  a  tent  in  the  spring;  "but  you  needn't  teach  me, 
uncle,  any  one  can  sew  on  buttons." 

"  Very  few  people  can  sew  on  buttons  properly," 
corrected  the  Doctor,  "  that  is,  buttons  on  men's 
clothing  that  will  button  and  stay  buttoned.  I  know 
a  charming  young  lady  who  sews  beautifully,  but  when 
it  comes  to  buttons  she  fastens  them  down  so  flat  and 
tight  to  the  cloth,  that  the  poor  button-holes  gape  and 


256  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

make  faces  in  trying  to  swallow  them,  and  often  do  not 
succeed  at  all.  One  of  the  button-holes  in  my  over- 
coat is  suffering  from  a  strained  jaw  now  !  " 

Olive  laughed  and  blushed  at  this,  saying  that  it  really 
was  not  so  very  easy  to  give  the  button  a  nice  little  neck 
of  thread  to  hold  it  and  yet  make  it  strong  and  fast. 

"  Double  thread,  four  times  through,  and  wind  four 
times  round  the  neck  is  my  receipt,"  said  Dr.  Roy. 

So  this  is  how  it  came  about  that  Nat  was  sitting 
tailor  fashion  on  the  wolf  skin  facing  the  campfire, 
sewing  on  buttons,  the  Saturday  before  Christmas, 
having  borrowed  Mammy  Bun's  thimble,  which  he 
wore  on  his  thumb. 

"It's  my  turn  again  to  choose,"  said  Dodo,  going  to 
the  portfolio  ;  "  but  won't  you  please  help  me,  Uncle 
Roy  ?  I  want  to  find  one  of  those  animals  with  the 
between  horns,  that  are  hollow  like  a  cow's  and  yet  fall 
off  like  a  Deer's  !  " 

"  The  Antelope,  you  mean.  Turn  a  little  further 
over  —  there  is  a  head  of  a  Prongbuck 1  (as  the  males 
are  called),  showing  the  horns,  and  here  is  a  picture 
with  the  doe  and  fawn  being  chased  across  the  plain  by 
a  Coyote,  while  the  Prairie  Dogs  watch  nervously  from 
the  doors  of  their  holes,  wondering  when  this  little 
brother  of  the  Wolf  will  turn  his  attention  to  them. 
This  picture  is  quite  a  drama  in  itself,  and  we  only  need 
add  one  more  character  to  have  a  group  of  plainsmen 
about  whom  books  of  stories  could  be  written.  Stop, 
there  is  the  picture  that  I  wish,  —  the  Badger. 

"  If  you  think  a  moment  about  the  animals  of  our 
stories,  you  will  remember  that  they  have  almost  all 
1  See  page  300. 


Drama  of  the  Plains. 
Prairie  Dogs.  Antelope. 


Coyote. 


OX    THE  PLAINS  257 

lived  in  or  about  woods  or  thickets  of  some  nature,  and 
that  they  have  been  chiefly  lovers  of  darkness  —  night 
hunters — the  Buffalo  and  Jack  Rabbit  being  the  great 
exceptions.  Now  we  have  come  to  some  fourfoots 
who,  like  those  two,  also  prefer  the  open  plains. 
Naming  them  in  order  of  size  they  are  the  Antelope  or 
Pronghorn,  the  Coyote,  the  Badger,  and  the  Prairie 
Dog,  who  even  to-day  carry  on  the  drama  of  the  plains 
in  spite  of  the  onward  march  of  two-footed  settlers. 

"  Three  of  these  four  animals  live  and  feed  in  the 
open  light  of  day,  the  Badger  alone  being  a  night 
prowler.  Two,  the  Badger  and  the  Prairie  Dog,  sleep 
the  winter  sleep,  having  homes  deep  under  the  ground. 
Two,  the  Pronghorn  and  Coyote,  are  always  watching 
and  awake,  always  alert,  living  wherever  their  food  is 
to  be  found.  This  drama  is  not  a  comedy,  it  is  a  tragic 
grand  chain,  hands-all-round. 

"  The  Pronghorn  is  a  cud-chewer,  therefore  a  vege- 
table eater  and  no  cannibal ;  but  the  Coyote  eats  the 
Pronghorn,  Prairie  Dog,  and  Badger  (when  he  can  catch 
him),  as  well  as  our  old  friend,  the  Jack  Rabbit.  The 
Badger  also  eats  the  Prairie  Dog,  as  well  as  Rats,  Mice, 
Gophers,  and  other  nuisance  animals,  yet  the  Prairie 
Dog  is  the  only  one  of  the  four  who  increases  beyond 
the  possibility  of  counting,  and  stretches  his  villages 
from  the  home  of  the  Peccary  in  Texas  to  the  land  of 
the  Varying  Hare." 

"  Do  they  build  houses  ?  "  asked  Dodo.  "  These  in 
the  picture  seem  to  be  sitting  by  little  holes  on  top  of 
ant-hills,  that  look  exactly  like  the  tips  of  the  volcanoes 
on  your  raised  map  in  the  wonder  room." 

"  They  do  not  build,"  said  the  Doctor  ;    "  they  dig 


258  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

houses  in  the  ground,  after  the  fashion  of  their  cousin, 
the  Wooclchuck.  But  the  Prairie  Dogs  are  very  sociable, 
living  in  great  underground  villages,  sometimes  twenty 
or  thirty  miles  long.  We  may  see  the  doors  of  their 
homes  easily  enough,  where  they  sit  hunched  like  little 
old  women,  with  their  arms  wrapped  in  shawls,  yet  quite 
alert,  like  all  of  the  Squirrel  family  to  which  they  be- 
long. But  they  never  invite  us  inside,  or  even  give  us 
a  glimpse  of  the  miles  and  miles  of  underground  pas- 
sages that  run  so  deep,  that  I  have  often  wondered  if 
this  little  beast  might  not  sometimes  burrow  down  to 
water,  for  though  they  often  live  near  creeks  and  in 
river  bottoms,  they  also  seem  to  be  content  quite  out 
of  reach  of  visible  water  at  least. 

"  Deep  as  the  passages  may  be,  the  Badger  knows 
how  to  dig  down  to  them,  and  readily  captures  this 
Prairie  Squirrel,  with  its  grizzled  brown  coat  and  Mar- 
mot's face.  Though  called  Prairie  Dot/,  there  is  not  a 
point  of  resemblance  between  this  vegetable  eater  and 
the  meat-eating  dog,  except  it  is  in  its  cry,  — '  Yap  — 
yap  —  yap  !  '  —  which  is  between  a  yelp  and  a  bark. 

"  Cleanly  in  its  habits  and  rather  prettily  furred,  this 
fourfoot  is  a  prince  among  mischief  makers,  and  is  a 
fine  illustration  of  an  animal  who  is  becoming  not  only 
a  nuisance,  but  a  real  danger  to  crops,  because  of  the 
necessary  disturbance  of  the  great  balance  wheel." 

"  What  wheel  was  that  ?  I  forget  about  it,"  said 
Dodo. 

"  I  remember,"  said  Nat ;  "  the  balance  wheel  is  what 
Uncle  Roy  called  '  The  Plan  of  the  World,"  where 
things  Were  arranged  so  that  every  animal  and  plant 
should  be  food  to  some  other  one,  and  there  shouldn't 


ON   THE  PLAINS  259 

be  too  much  of  anything.  But  by  and  by  House 
People  had  to  meddle,  and  without  thinking  much 
about  it  killed  off  some  things,  and  then  the  others 
grew  too  many,  because  there  was  no  one  to  eat  them  !  " 

"  That  is  rather  a  mixed  way  of  putting  it,"  laughed 
Dr.  Roy,  "  but  we  understand  what  you  mean,  which 
is  something. 

"  The  Prairie  Dog  eats  not  only  grass,  but  grass 
roots  also,  and  as  soon  as  they  have  eaten  all  within  a 
certain  distance  of  their  homes,  they  move  on,  burrow- 
ing fresh  villages,  leaving  bare,  barren  ground  behind 
them,  only  to  lay  waste  fresh  grazing  ground. 

"Before  the  Buffaloes  had  left  and  farm  cattle 
roamed  over  the  plains,  and  wheat  fields  made  green 
seas  of  the  prairies,  the  natural  enemies  of  the  Prairie 
Dogs  held  them  in  check.  But  the  farmer  was  more 
angry  with  the  Coyote,  Fox,  and  Badger  than  with  the 
seemingly  harmless  Prairie  Dog,  and  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  them,  until  he  found  that  it  was  much  worse  to 
have  his  pasture  eaten  than  to  lose  a  few  calves  and 
lambs  —  and  now  the  war  wages  fiercely  in  the  grazing 
and  wheat  lands. 

"  You  may  take  a  rifle  and  play  '  catch  as  catch  can, 
until  the  gunpowder  runs  out  of  the  heels  of  your  boots,' 
like  the  people  in  the  nursery  jingle  ;  but  it  is  more 
often  '  catch  as  catch  emit '  when  you  undertake  to 
rout  a  Prairie  Dog  town. 

"  I  have  often  sauntered  through  one  of  their  villages, 
stick  in  hand,  merely  to  see  what  they  would  do.  They 
were  as  usual  on  the  watch,  each  one  close  to  his  door. 
Very  likely  a  Burrowing  Owl,  living  in  some  abandoned 
hole  of  the  dogs,  would  drop  me  a  quaint  bobbing  cour- 


260  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

tesy  as  I  passed,  after  a  fashion  of  its  own.  Perhaps  I 
would  see  a  sand-colored  rattlesnake  disappear  in  one 
of  the  mounds,  probably  to  make  a  meal  and  a  visit  at 
the  same  time. 

"  As  I  drew  near  every  eye  was  upon  me.  If  I  raised 
my  arms  or  stick,  amid  a  chorus  of  yelps,  down  the 
Prairie  Dogs  would  go  into  their  holes,  only  to  bob  up 
the  next  moment  Jack-in-the-box  fashion.  It  does  not 
seem  to  matter  how  they  enter  the  holes.  They  can 
turn  a  somersault  down  the  slope  that  leads  from  the 
door  to  the  first  gallery,  and  disappear  backward,  star- 
ing all  the  while. 

"  Curiosity  is  often  as  fatal  to  them  as  to  big  game. 
Coyote  knows  this  failing  and  avails  himself  of  it  in 
hunting  them.  You  remember  how  the  great  Gray 
Timber  Wolves  hunt  in  couples  or  in  packs.  Coyote 
also  follows  this  family  habit.  Two  start  out  from  a 
den  or  lounging  spot  in  the  side  of  a  butte  or  coulie." 

"  What  is  a  butte  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  A  butte  is  a  sort  of  cliff  of  sandstone,  that  rises 
sharply  from  level  ground.  They  are  the  landmarks 
of  the  plains  and  often  take  beautiful  or  fantastic 
shapes,  like  church  spires  or  castles.  Some  buttes  are 
bare  and  arid,  some  are  dotted  with  clusters  of  pine 
trees.     A  coulie  is  a  cut  made  by  creek  or  river. 

"As  I  said  before,"  continued  the  Doctor,  "two 
Coyotes  start  out  to  see  what  they  can  pick  up,  sniffing 
about  here  and  there  like  the  vagabond  wild  dogs  they 
are.  If  they  find  the  carcass  of  some  large  animal,  left 
by  Wolves  or  human  hunters,  they  will  gorge  them- 
selves contentedly  upon  it,  for  they  are  the  Jackals  of 
our  country  and  revel  in  carrion.     If,  however,  they 


ON   THE  PLAINS  261 

meet  with  nothing  of  this  sort,  they  sit  down  like  a 
couple  of  House  People  deciding  upon  a  plan  of  action, 
and  look  about  the  country  in  all  directions." 

"Do  they  look  for  what  they  want?  I  thought  all 
fourfoots  followed  scent  the  most,"  said  Rap. 

"  With  the  beasts  of  woods  and  thickets,  smell  is  the 
keener  sense  of  the  two  ;  but  with  the  animals  who  have 
been  adapted  to  living  in  the  open,  sight  is  better  de- 
veloped." 

"Of  course,"  said  Olive,  "I  can  understand  that,  for 
you  cannot  see  far  in  the  woods,  while  there  are  fewer 
things  in  the  open  country  to  hold  the  scent." 

"Oar  Coyotes  see  in  the  distance  some  Prairie  Dogs 
sitting  at  the  mouths  of  their  caves  :  they  interchange 
signals.  One  Coyote  starts  off  on  a  lazy  trot  ;  the 
other  remains  sitting.  The  first  Coyote  does  not 
hurry,  however,  but  goes  in  a  careless  way  toward  the 
village,  and  soon  his  companion  may  be  seen  following 
him.  Singling  out  a  particular  dog,  the  leader  passes 
it  slowly,  but  without  pausing.  Down  drops  the 
Prairie  Dog  into  its  hole  as  if  shot.  In  a  moment 
his  curiosity  overcomes  his  fear.  He  peeps  out,  sees 
the  Coyote  moving  off,  and  so  resumes  his  doorstep 
watch,  still  eying  the  enemy. 

"The  moment  he  takes  his  place  he  is  snapped  up  by 
Coyote  number  two,  who  has  followed,  all  unseen,  in 
the  footsteps  of  number  one.  This  is  of  course  if  all 
goes  well,  and  no  neighborly  Prairie  Dog  has  given  a 
warning  '  Yap  ! ' 

"  Some  spring  morning  our  Coyotes  may  fancy  veni- 
son for  breakfast,  and  think  that  nothing  would  taste 
better  than  a  young  Antelope.     Again  they  scan  the 


262  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

plain,  slinking  along  cautiously  behind  such  scant  shel- 
ter as  they  can  find,  or  lying  flat  on  the  ground  if  no 
cover  offers.  In  the  distance  a  bunch  of  Antelope  are 
feeding,  their  pronged  horns  showing  them  to  be  chiefly 
males,  who  would  run  too  swiftly  and  fight  too  bravely 
if  the  single  pair  of  Coyotes  should  follow  them. 

"  While  the  Coyotes  are  planning  and  plotting,  let 
us  cross  the  plain  and  look  at  these  Antelopes,  who 
were  once,  next  to  the  Buffalo,  the  most  plentiful  of 
our  big  game  animals,  even  now  holding  out  bravely 
against  great  persecution,  which  if  it  cannot  be  stopped 
will,  in  another  ten  years,  surely  drive  them  out  of 
existence. 

"  The  Buffalo  may  thrive  for  a  time  in  confinement, 
but  the  Antelope  does  not,  for  he  misses  the  Buffalo 
grass  of  his  native  plains. 

"  The  Pronghorn  is  a  compact  animal,  with  more  the 
shape  of  a  Bighorn  than  of  his  cousin  the  Deer.  He 
measures  three  feet  to  the  shoulder,  has  a  short  body, 
and  is  very  easy  to  identify,  first  by  the  black  horns 
with  double  prongs  that  grow  just  above  and  between 
the  large,  deep  brown  eyes,  next  by  the  neck  bands  of 
brown  and  white,  then  by  the  white  rump,  the  straw- 
like hair  of  the  back  being  dun  color,  like  the  coat  of 
a  Jersey  cow.  The  eyes  of  the  Antelope  are  of  won- 
derful size  and  brilliancy,  and  they  are  among  the 
keenest  eyed  of  our  fourfoots.  The  doe  (as  the  female 
is  usually  called  in  the  Deer  family)  does  not  wear 
horns. 

"  The  twin  horns  of  the  little  male  fawns  begin  to 
grow  when  they  are  four  months  old,  and  are  shed  in 
midwinter  or  early  spring,  but  the  old  bucks  usually 


ON   THE  PLAINS  263 

lose  theirs  in  autumn,  at  the  end  of  the  year's  growth 
and  srood  grazing.  When  the  time  comes  that  the  old 
horn  is  ripe  it  drops  off.  If  you  could  look  at  it,  you 
would  find  it  hollow  half-way  up,  and  see  how  it  fitted 
over  the  bony  core  from  which  it  grew,  and  which  is 
a  part  of  the  animal's  skull.  Then  you  would  see  the 
point  of  the  soft  new  horn  sprouting." 

"  Why  do  Deer  have  to  shed  their  prongs  and  horns  ?  " 
asked  Nat.  "  What  are  they  good  for,  and  isn't  the 
ground  all  prickly  with  them  ?  " 

"  They  are  the  weapons  with  which  the  males  fight 
each  other  when  they  choose  their  mates.  You  have 
seen  that  birds  often  quarrel  in  the  mating  season  and 
peck  and  fly  at  each  other,  and  the  fourfoots  are  much 
more  jealous  and  disagreeable,  the  larger  ones,  like  the 
Bears  and  Deer,  often  fighting  terrible  battles.  Their 
mating  season  is  in  the  autumn,  and  when  it  is  over 
they  have  no  further  use  for  their  weapons  until  the 
new  ones  are  ripe  the  next  season." 

"Why  don't  they  need  them  to  fight  people  and 
other  animals  with  ? "  asked  Rap. 

"  They  use  them  in  self -protection  sometimes,  but 
in  fighting  other  animals  they  usually  strike  with  their 
hoofs  and  are  able  to  deal  very  powerful  blows.  One 
of  the  ways  in  which  the  Deer  family  kills  rattle- 
snakes is  to  spring  suddenly  upon  them  with  their  four 
feet  close  together. 

"The  Pronghorn  has  its  winter  and  summer  ranges 
like  the  Buffalo.  In  summer,  unless  drought  turns  the 
coarse  grass  into  hay,  they  fare  well;  but  in  winter  the 
poor  Antelope  huddle  together  in  such  shelter  as  they 
can  find,  and  if  snowed  in,  not  having  snow-shoe  feet  to 


264  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

travel  toward  Letter  feeding  grounds,  they  must  freeze 
and  starve  if  thoroughly  snowbound.  Why  we  do  not 
find  more  of  the  cast-off  prongs  or  antlers  on  the 
grounds,  is  a  hard  question  to  answer.  Indians  say 
because  sometimes  the  animals  paw  up  dirt  and  bury 
them,  but  it  is  probably  because  the  great  army  of 
nuisance  animals  gnaw  them  for  food. 

"  The  Antelope  fawns,  one  or  two  in  number,  are 
born  in  middle  or  late  spring,  and  stay  in  grassy  nooks 
under  slight  shelter  for  a  few  days,  after  which  they 
follow  their  mothers.  This  is  a  time  of  peril  for  both 
fawn  and  doe.  While  the  fawns  are  too  feeble  to  run 
about,  they  are  comparatively  safe,  but  as  soon  as  they 
come  out  in  plain  sight  the  eyes  of  the  Coyote  world 
are  upon  them,  and  the  does  often  lose  their  lives  in 
striving  to  protect  them.  Then  there  are  winged  ene- 
mies also,  —  the  great  golden  war  Eagles,  who  swoop 
down  and  seize  the  fawns  easily,  and  are  often  a  match 
for  fully  grown  bucks,  disabling  them  first  by  picking 
out  their  eyes." 

"Do  Antelopes  only  live  in  the  far  West  ?  Were 
there  never  any  near  here  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  They  have  never  been  found  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
but  they  once  ranged  all  the  way  from  the  Saskatche- 
wan country  down  to  prickly  Peccary  land,  both  in  the 
green  prairie,  foothills,  and  dry,  cracked  alkali  plain, 
where  rattlesnakes  and  horned  toads  were  their  com- 
panions. Now  domestic  sheep  have  taken  their  sum- 
mer ranges  on  the  bare  slopes  of  the  foothills,  as  the 
range  cattle  have  replaced  the  Buffalo,  and  the  great 
tribe  is  broken  into  detached  groups,  scattered  here 
and  there  through  half  a  dozen  states." 


ON   THE  PLAINS  265 

"  I  should  think  the  Coyotes  and  Foxes  could  surely 
find  the  baby  Deer  when  they  were  hidden  in  the 
bushes,"  said  Rap. 

"  So  you  would  imagine,  but  when  the  fawns  are  very 
small  they  are  said  to  have  no  odor  by  which  they  may 
be  tracked,  and  if  their  mothers  scent  harm  for  them 
they  give  a  bleating  call,  and  the  obedient  children 
flatten  themselves  close  to  the  earth  and  are  hidden 
from  sight,  in  the  same  manner  that  the  little  grouse 
disappear  at  their  mother's  cluck.  As  soon  as  they 
are  old  enough  to  have  strength  in  their  legs,  the  fawns 
cease  hiding,  taking  to  their  heels  when  alarmed  — 
and  how  a  Pronghorn  runs  when  it  chooses  !  The 
fully  grown  Antelope  can  outrun  a  race  horse  for  a 
certain  distance,  and  though  they  cannot  jump  as  far 
upward  as  other  Deer,  they  can  cross  a  great  space  on 
a  level,  and  even  the  little  ones  bound  over  the  ground 
as  swiftly  as  Rabbits." 

"  I  should  think  if  they  ran  so  fast  and  could  see  so 
far,  hunters  could  never  catch  them,"  said  Rap. 

"  It  is  a  difficult  matter  in  broken  and  treacherous 
ground,  but  their  curiosity  makes  it  possible.  To  chase 
Antelope  on  horseback  at  full  speed  over  the  plains  is 
dangerous  work  ;  at  any  moment  a  horse  may  step  into 
a  Badger  or  Prairie  Dog's  hole,  break  his  leg,  and  give 
the  rider  a  bad  fall.  But  sometimes  a  herd,  on  seeing 
a  horseman,  will  run  a  little  way,  then  all  wheel  round 
and  gaze  at  him  before  starting  once  more,  which  lets 
him  gain  time. 

"  There  was  a  way  of  attracting  Antelope,  called  sig- 
nalling, by  waving  a  flag  on  a  pole.  On  sight  of  the 
waving  object,  the  curiosity  of  the  animals  was  excited 


266  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

and  they  came  up  to  look,  but  it  only  attracted  Ante- 
lope who  had  not  been  hunted  before,  and  they  are  now 
growing  too  shy  to  be  deceived  by  it.  Then,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  protection  of  their  coloring  when  lying  down 
and  their  own  wonderful  eyesight,  the  Pronghorns  have 
danger  signals  of  their  own,  added  to  various  cries. 
When  alarmed,  they  can  raise  the  hair  on  the  rump 
until  it  looks  like  a  huge  white  chrysanthemum,  being 
visible  from  a  great  distance. 

"  Now  Avhile  we  have  been  talking  about  the  habits  of 
the  Antelope,  what  have  our  pair  of  Coyotes  planned? 

"  They  have  sneaked  along  until  they  have  discov- 
ered a  doe,  grazing  alone  and  followed  by  a  fair-sized 
fawn.  After  taking  the  lay  of  the  land  the  Coyotes 
separate,  one  going  over  a  bit  of  rising  ground  to  the 
left  and  the  other  creeping  directly  towards  its  prey, 
for  you  must  understand  that  Coyotes,  though  swift 
runners,  cannot  overtake  an  animal  like  the  Antelope 
except  by  forming  a  partnership  of  two,  three,  or  four, 
spreading  out  along  the  runway  and  chasing  in  relays 
—  one  starting  when  another  gives  out,  until  their 
victim  is  quite  spent. 

"  The  doe  starts  to  run,  the  fawn  keeping  by  her 
side,  its  legs  striking  out  awkwardly.  On  they  go  for 
a  mile  or  so  gayly  enough,  the  doe  gradually  turning  to 
the  left  toward  an  accustomed  track,  her  white  back 
bristling  in  alarm,  like  a  warning  cry  of  '  Wolf  to  any 
of  her  tribe  who  may  heed.  Now  very  soon  the  fawn 
begins  to  lag  and  the  Coyote  gains  upon  them.  The 
doe  is  prepared  for  this,  and  gradually  drops  behind, 
keeping  the  fawn  in  front  of  her.  One  minute  more 
and  as  the  Coyote  strives  to  pass  and  seize  the  kid,  he 


ON    THE  PLAINS  267 

will  receive  a  stunning  blow  in  the  head  from  those 
rocklike  hoofs.  Then  the  pair  will  be  safe,  unless  they 
are  too  tired  to  escape  the  second  Coyote  who  is  waiting 
to  head  them  off  a  little  further  on.  But  if  the  second 
Coyote  should  arrive  on  the  scene  before  the  first  is 
disabled,  struggling  is  useless,  and  the  little  Wolf 
brothers  will  have  the  venison  breakfast  that  they 
coveted." 

"  You  said  the  Badger  holes  were  dangerous  for 
horsemen.  Do  Badgers  live  with  the  Prairie  Dogs  ?  " 
asked  Dodo.  "  The  Badger  in  this  picture  is  very 
funny  — he  looks  very  silly,  and  as  if  he  wanted  to 
sneeze  and  couldn't !  " 

"  Badgers  make  their  homes  near  Prairie  Dog  towns 
or  at  wood  edges.  These  burrows  are  very  curious 
affairs  too.  They  go  down  fully  six  feet,  then  separate 
into  galleries  that  lead  to  different  rooms,  the  master  of 
the  house  occupying  the  largest,  deepest  apartment  all 
by  himself.  They  are  clean  beasts,  too,  and  keep  their 
quarters  very  neat.  Foolish  as  the  Badger  looks,  he  is 
a  fierce  foe,  and  it  is  a  plucky  dog  or  beast  of  any  kind 
who  can  rout  him  from  his  hole. 

"The  Badger  is  about  two  feet  from  nose  to  tail, 
which  is  rather  short;  the  body  is  broad  and  flat,  the 
skin  thick  and  tough,  the  back  and  fore  legs  as  strong 
as  iron.  It  has  a  pointed  nose,  keen  black  eyes,  and  a 
white  stripe  running  from  its  nose  over  its  head  to  the 
shoulders.  The  general  color  of  its  winter  fur,  which 
is  three  inches  long,  is  a  frosty  gray.  We  say  of  a  man 
who  has  peculiarly  white-tipped  hair,  '  He  is  gray  as  a 
Badger.'  The  summer  fur  is  less  brilliant,  being  yel- 
lowish and  faded.     The  Badger's  chief  claims  to  fame 


268 


FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 


are  liis  long,  cruel  claws,  used  both  as  tools  and  weapons, 
which,  combined  with  his  sharp  teeth,  make  him  an 
animal  to  be  attacked  cautiously.  Both  back  and  front 
feet  have  five  strong  toes  set  well  in  the  flesh,  armed 
with  claws  that  make  the  Badger  a  veritable    steam 


ftwrf  Si-tci,  T^W"?" 


Badger. 

shovel  for  digging.  Once  give  him  ever  so  small  a 
start  and  he  can  burrow  faster  than  anything  can 
follow  him.  Or  let  him  back  into  his  hole,  bracing 
his  hind  feet,  and  any  Dog,  Fox,  or  Coyote  who  tries  to 
draw  him  out  will  be  torn,  bitten,  and  most  likely  have 
his  throat  cut." 

"  Are  Badgers  good  for  anything  but  to  keep  down 


ON   THE  PLAINS  269 

nuisance  animals  ?  "  asked  Rap,  getting  up  reluctantly, 
for  he  was  obliged  to  go  home  early  that  night. 

"  Yes,  paint  and  shaving  brushes  are  made  from  their 
stiffer  tail-hairs,  and  their  pelts  have  a  small  value  in 
the  fur  market." 

"  I've  finished  my  last  button,"  said  Nat,  jumping 
up  as  Rap  closed  the  door  ;  "  but  my  fingers  are  all 
cramped." 

"  I  should  think  they  would  be,"  said  Olive,  "  sit- 
ting all  in  a  heap  and  pushing  the  needle  with  your 
thumb.  The  buttons  look  very  nicely,  though,  don't 
they,  father?" 

"  Yes,  and  you  see  they  all  have  nice  little  necks,  and 
the  button-holes  do  not  make  faces  when  they  swallow 
them,"  added  Nat,  proudly. 

"  The  last  present  is  finished  —  now  comes  Christinas 
and  the  tree  ! "  cried  Dodo,  clapping  her  hands.  "  May 
we  open  our  bank  and  see  if  we  have  enough  money  to 
buy  the  bird  book  for  Rap  ?  You  said  we  might  when 
the  sewing  was  all  done.  Yes  ;  here  it  is,  I  hid  it  in 
the  wolf  skin  to  have  it  all  read3^.  Oh,  what  a  lot  of 
pennies,  and  a  gold  dollar  !  Who  put  that  in,  I  wonder? 
It  was  you,  daddy,  I  can  tell  by  the  way  the  end  of 
your  nose  winks  !  Do  count  for  me,  Olive,  the  pennies 
slip  so  ! " 

"  Four  dollars  and  fifty  cents,"  said  Olive,  after 
counting  twice  over. 

"  Hurrah  !  "  shouted  Nat,  "  the  book  Rap  wishes  only 
costs  three  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  so  we  can  buy  him  a 
big  box  of  real  city  candy  too  !  " 


XIX 


UNDER   THE   POLAR   STAR 


UCH  wind  and  threatening 
weather,  then  two  days 
of    falling    snow    that 
•     buried  the  fences,  and 
at  last  the  northwest 
wind  sent  the  clouds 
scurrying,  and  bright 
•nshine  returned  with 
t        lay   before   Christ- 
ma.-,. 

"  It  is  like  the  pictures  in  a  fairT'  ,tory ;  do  look  at 
the  trees  and  the  top  of  the  rose  a  oor !  "  said  Dodo 
that  Friday  morning,  as  she  rubbed  tl  p-hole  in  the 
frost  on  the  dining-room  window.  "  ..  ,1  is  breaking 
the  road  up  the  hill,  and  all  you  can  -  is  the  top  of 
his  head,  and  Tom  and  Jerry  step  in  uj  where  their 
blankets  are  strapped.     It's  lucky  we  'the  Christ- 

mas tree  cut  down  and  waiting  in  the 'shea  before  the 
snow  came." 

"It  isn't  in  the  shed,"  said  Nat,  mischievously,  com- 
ing in  with  dancing  eyes  and  a  veiy  red,  cold  nose,  the 
only  parts  of  his  face  that  could  be  seen  between  his 
muffler  and  cap  brim. 

"  Oh,   where  is  it  ?  "  wailed  Dodo.     "  Do  you  think 

270 


UNDER   THE  POLAR   STAR  '    271 

any  one  lias  stolen  it  —  was  there  any  trail  in  the 
snow  ?  " 

"  Yes,  some  one  has  dragged  the  tree  out ;  I  sav  the 
footprints  and  marks  of  the  branches  !  " 

"  Do  let's  go  and  tell  Uncle  Roy,  or  it  will  ^e  too 
late  to  cut  another." 

"Nat  is  teasing  you,"  said  Olive.  "  Father  and  Un- 
cle Jack  are  the  thieves,  for  I  see  them  >.  j'ging'  the 
tree  round  to  the  camp  now." 

Bang!  went  the  door,  and  the  dining  rooir  was  empty. 
***** 

The  tree  touched  the  ceiling  and  was  fastened  to  a 
beam  with  wire  to  keep  the  top  steady,  while  the  stand 
that  held  it  was  so  pret+"ly  covered  with  moss  and  pine 
needles  that  it  looker!  ate  like  the  ground  where  the 
spruce  crvow  p.*  ^  would  have  been  the  proper 
lights  f  vv'  x'ine  h  tmas  tree,  but  Dr.  Roy  was  so 
afraid  oi«  c  CajEp  C  oia  dry  beams  afire,  that  he  ob- 
jected even  I21^nuies,  and  so  Mr.  Blake  had  sent  to 
the  city  for  or  of  tiny  electric  lights  that  would 

twinkle  in  s? ' 

Nat  an^L  ,    helped  twine  the  beams  with  ever- 

greens and  *  the  decorations  on  the  tree,  but  no 

more.  Ths,  aid  not  for  worlds  have  peeped  at  even 
the  corner  -.  resent,  they  were  so  fond  of  being  sur- 

prised. Ir  £_  .  of  the  temptation  to  go  outdoors,  they 
were  too  j  ^h  excited  to  care  for  making  snow  houses, 
or  throwing  snowballs,  and  kept  in  a  perfect  fidget  un- 
til three  o'clock,  the  hour  when  Rod  was  to  take  the 
big  sleigh  to  the  depot  to  meet  the  party  from  the 

mountain. 

*  *  *  *  * 


272  FOUR-FOOTED  AMEBIC  AN  S 

"  They  are  coming,  they  are  almost  at  the  corner,  for 
1  can  hear  the  bells  !  "  cried  Dodo.  "  Now  they've 
stopped  !  " 

"  They  are  waiting  for  Rap  and  his  mother,  you  know 
the  sleigh  was  to  call  for  them.  Here  they  are  !  " 
shouted  Nat,  dashing  down  to  the  gate,  — "  that  is, 
all  but  Toinette  !  " 

Sure  enough  she  had  not  come.  "  Got  bashful  at 
the  last  minit,"  said  Nez ;  "  allowed  she'd  better  stay 
home  and  keep  house  along  with  her  brother  who's 
winterin'  with  us,  but  they're  goin'  over  to  the  Ridge 
to-morrer  to  keep  Christmas  Canady  style  with  some 
country  folks  o'  theirn.  Reckon  they'll  see  their  Christ- 
mas candles  in  church  !  " 

This  was  a  very  long  speech  for  Nez,  and  he  imme- 
diately retired  to  the  barn  with  Rod,  looking  as  if 
he  was  afraid  of  a  real  house  with  carpets  and  cur- 
tains. 

Olaf  took  some  oddly  shaped  parcels  from  the  bottom 
of  the  sleigh  and  carried  them  to  the  stoop,  driving 
Phonse  and  Dominique  in  front  of  him  like  a  pair  of 
balky  geese;  but  they  soon  felt  at  home  and  began  to 
talk  when  they  had  been  introduced  to  the  dogs  and 
saw  Mammy  Bun  preparing  supper. 

"  I  think  those  long  bundles  look  as  if  they  might 
hold  show-shoes,"  said  Nat  to  Olive  ;  "  but  what  is 
in  that  green  bag,  I  wonder?  " 

"  I  have  brought  my  fiddle,"  said  Olaf,  as  if  in  answer 
to  Nat's  question.  "  Your  father  said  to  me  :  '  Olaf,  I 
have  a  banjo  ;  bring  your  fiddle  and  we  will  make  music 
together.'" 

Olaf  often  spoke  slowly,  as  if  he  thought  in  his  own 


UNDER    THE  POLAR   STAR  273 

tongue  and  turned  the  words  to  English  as  he  said  them, 
yet  always  using  good  language. 

The  children  began  the  entertainment  of  their  guests 
by  showing  them  everything  on  the  farm,  from  Sausage 
up,  and  had  only  half  explained  the  wonder  room  when 
the  bell  rang  for  tea. 

"  The  little  boys  have  brought  funny  knit  nighties 
and  nightcaps  with  red  tassels,"  whispered  Nat  to  Dodo, 
as  he  returned  from  showing  the  Brownies  —  as  Olive 
called  them  —  their  room  and  had  helped  unwind  some 
of  their  wrappings. 

Supper  was  a  rather  mixed,  but  very  merry,  meal. 
Olive  had  difficulty  in  keeping  Dodo  from  asking  the 
Brownies  why  they  preferred  fingers  to  forks,  while 
Mr.  Wolf  and  Quick  saw  instantly  that  something 
unusual  was  in  the  air  and  roved  about  the  table  try- 
ing to  snatch  scraps,  something  that  they  had  never 
before  dreamed  of  doing.  But  then  if  Christmas  comes 
but  once  a  year,  having  a  party  of  two  Brownies,  a  real 
live  woodsman,  and  a  Fin  who  knows  a  Dream  Fox,  is 
rarer  yet. 

The  men  went  out  in  the  clear  starlight  for  a  breath 
of  air  and  to  smoke  their  pipes.  Rap's  mother  helped 
Mammy  Bun  in  washing  dishes  and  making  the  kitchen 
neat,  so  that  by  eight  o'clock  everything  was  in  order 
for  the  march  upon  Camp  Saturday. 

"Isn't  it  nice?"  said  Dodo  to  the  Brownies;  "eight 
o'clock  is  go-to-bed-time  on  common  nights,  but  Christ- 
mas eve  it  is  the  very  beginning,  for  daddy  says  we 
may  stay  up  until  ten  !  " 

The  Brownies,  however,  did  not  understand  much 
about  time,  for  they  usually  went  to  bed  whenever  it 


274  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

grew  dark.  While  they  all  stood  waiting  for  the  sign 
to  he  given  for  opening  the  camp  door,  a  scream  came 
from  Mammy  Bun,  who  was  already  inside. 

"  For  de  Ian'  sakes,  Massa  Doctor,  come  hyar  right 
smart !  Billy  Coon,  he  am  in  der  tree  eatin'  eheryting  ! 
I  tink  he  hab  bit  one  o'  dem  fancy  lights,  shor'  miff !  " 

The  waiting  procession  immediately  stampeded. 
Fortunately  the  tree  was  fastened  at  the  top,  or  Billy's 
fat  body  would  have  overturned  it  and  wrought  dire 
mischief.  As  it  was,  he  had  only  eaten  a  few  lady 
apples  and  a  candy  cane,  so  he  was  driven  into  a  far 
corner,  where  he  sat  devouring  a  string  of  popcorn  that 
caught  round  his  neck,  for  the  Brownies  were  delighted 
to  see  their  old  friend,  and  the  children  all  begged  that 
he  might  not  be  banished. 

The  tree  lights  twinkled  in  earnest,  and  made  such  a 
blaze  that  the  Brownies  blinked,  and  an  hour  was  spent 
in  exploring  the  branches  of  the  tree  after  the  ground 
had  been  gleaned  of  the  larger  gifts.  If  this  was  not 
a  story  of  fourfoots,  I  would  tell  you  all  about  the 
presents,  —  the  names  of  the  bicycles  that  Olive,  Nat, 
and  Dodo  received,  of  Rap's  bird  book,  Mrs.  Blake's 
soft  sealskin  jacket,  the  Brownies'  toys,  Olafs  carved 
pipe,  and  Nez'  knife  that  had  a  blade  for  everything 
and  one  extra.  I  must  not  even  whisper  about  these 
things,  except  to  say  that  the  snow-shoes  were  there  ; 
but  hurry  to  the  story  that  Olaf  told  as  he  gazed  from 
the  tree  to  the  campfire,  listening  now  and  then,  as  if 
his  words  came  from  the  wind  outside. 

"  Who  shall  choose  the  pictures  to-night  ?  "  asked 
Olive.  "  It  is  Dodo's  turn  to-morrow,  but  this  is  an 
extra  evening." 


UNDER    THE  POLAR   STAR  275 

"  Let  Olaf  choose  for  himself,"  said  the  Doctor. 
"  He  has  a  story  in  mind  and  knows  what  he  needs  to 
illustrate  it." 

Olaf  took  six  pictures  from  the  portfolio  ;  the  first 
three  were  of  a  Polar  Bear,  a  Caribou,  and  the  Musk 
Ox,  a  shaggy,  brown  beast  with  drooping  horns,  that 
looked  half  sheep  and  half  Buffalo.  The  other  three 
were  of  Sea  Lions,  Seals,  and  a  Walrus. 

"  They  are  all  strange,  far-away,  cold  country  ani- 
mals," said  Rap  ;  "  just  the  right  sort  for  a  winter 
story." 

"  Mine  is  a  tale  of  ice  and  snow,  long  nights  and 
short  days,  of  a  country  whose  north  border  sleeps  in 
the  twilight  a  third  of  the  year,  —  if  it  were  not  so  the 
people  would  be  sightless  from  the  snow  blindness,  — 
a  land  of  hunger  and  cold,  of  sore  famine,  and  then 
brutal  hunting.  We  may  call  this  place  Fur  Land, 
and  it  lies  under  the  Polar  star  and  is  the  place  where 
the  white  Bear  rug  and  sealskin  jacket  are  at  home." 

"Please,  Olaf,"  interrupted  Dodo,  "if  you  know 
about  this  far-away,  cold  country,  can  you  tell  if  the 
Reindeer  that  Santa  Glaus  drove  have  any  American 
cousins,  and  why  children  never  see  him  driving  over 
the  roofs  or  coming  down  the  chimneys  any  more  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Olaf,  hesitating  a  moment;  "those  Rein- 
deer have  cousins  living  with  us.  They  are  called  the 
Caribou,  and  grow  of  two  varieties,  —  one  short-legged 
and  stunted,  that  tracks  the  treeless  Barren  Grounds, 
and  the  other  here  pictured,  the  Woodland  Caribou. 
But  '  why  do  children  no  longer  see  the  good  Santa 
Claus  ?  '  That  question  has  a  sad,  sad  answer,  coming 
from  unfair  hunting,  which  drives  so  many  fine  things 


276 


FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 


out  of  this  land.  Think  you  Saint  Nicholas  will  bring 
his  magic  Deer  here  for  men  to  shoot  with  their  long- 
reaching  guns  ?  He  knows  their  cruel  hearts  too  well, 
and  keeps  away  so  that  no  man,  pointing  to  a  row  of 
antlers   over  his   chimney-piece,  may  say,   '  Those   are 


— ^^^^^j^j^^^^^^^^^^^^^^— 

r^-p  -                    ~      ■  •:"." 

'  -'JwJ'ty'^ 

G9H 

r^fc-"-  t'is-; 

dl-J 

\C"                    -  '  • 

pP*^r^ 

^^^^F^        mr^M 

B^si 

-  *—"*■•-! 

P-irf^m^^-^BlfrB 

WjL^j^i 

p\  ^^SIbE^S^HI  sL 

iii*-  1 

gu |  .^maawJMtiW 

^W'^Bfll  ^^__^jjBBPR^BI^*^^ 

%#*? 

Mi>  . 

""  ~LjU"  ~ 

■w 

, 

-•*■' 

i 

->"/'<k        •""--— 

ir~ 

£Vnf.sf  5e(oin  Tfto-m/u«n_ 

Woodland  Caribou. 


the  horns  of  Santa  Claus'  Reindeer  ;  I  myself  shot 
them  all  with  a  single  bullet !  ' 

"  Come  then,  whistle  to  our  Woodland  Caribou  to 
take  us  to  this  Fur  Land,  but  do  not  be  impatient ;  he 
has  far  to  journey  to  us. 

"  He  has  his  home  in  the  woods,  upon  our  northern 
borders  and  on  into  the  British  Kingdom,  as  far  as  trees 


UNDER    THE  POL  All    STAR  277 

grow  to  give  him  shelter.  In  summer  lie  loves  cool 
marshes,  where  he  feeds  on  plant  roots  and  fresh  tree 
buds ;  in  winter  he  journeys  to  high  ground  and  paws 
the  snow  away  to  find  grass,  moss,  or  lichens,  so  he  is 
always  restless,  moving  about  more  than  his  stunted 
brother  of  the  Barren  Grounds,  and  we  must  often  look 
far  and  wide  to  find  him.  Ah,  lie  is  a  fourfoot  built  to 
stand  the  cold,  and  shod  for  snow  striding  !  Look  at 
his  picture.  See  the  strange  antlers,  both  palmed  and 
fined,  branching  downward  as  gnarled  old  trees,  no  two 
pairs  growing  quite  alike.  Even  the  female  Caribou, 
or,  as  she  is  called  in  this  tribe,  the  coav,  wears  small, 
spiked  horns.  See  his  long,  stout  hair  that  makes  a 
thatch  like  straw  to  keep  the  wet  and  cold  out  of  his 
undercoat.  He  is  not  pretty,  this  Caribou  ;  ah,  no  !  his 
face  and  neck  look  faded,  and  he  is  at  best  a  dingy  sort 
of  brown  Avith  a  lighter  colored  rump.  His  tail  is  lined 
with  white,  and,  when  raised,  becomes  his  signal  flag  of 
danger.  See  the  foot  gear  he  wears  ;  is  it  not  wonder- 
ful ?  Two  hoofed,  spreading  toes,  curved  inward,  with 
two  more  behind,  all  edged  with  stiff  hairs.  When  he 
plants  his  feet  his  hind  legs  bend  toward  the  ground, 
making  long  snow-shoes  such  as  no  other  deer  wears. 
The  palm-horned  Moose,  the  largest  of  our  deer,  sinks 
in  the  snow,  and  after  much  running,  falls  exhausted. 
The  Elk,  the  king  of  all  his  tribe,  has  small,  sharp- 
edged  hoofs  ;  but  this,  the  third  from  the  largest,  the 
awkward  Caribou,  wears  such  snow-shoes  that,  if  he 
were  tamed  and  trained,  he  too,  like  his  Reindeer 
cousin,  would  be  a  useful  beast  of  burden  in  our  bleak, 
north  country. 

"  He  does  not  come  ;   whistling  will  not  bring  him  ; 


278  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

we  must  go  without  him,  for  we  cannot  wait.  Per- 
haps, as  he  sheds  his  great  antlers  near  Christmas  time, 
he  feels  shy  and  helpless.  I  will  call  the  '  Day-Dream 
Fox '  to  guide  us.  Look  well  at  the  map  while  we  are 
travelling  open  eyed,  for  he  leads  the  mind  in  minutes, 
where  it  would  take  the  feet  long  months  to  follow. 

"  Go  up  through  our  plains  to  the  British  countries, 
where  the  great  company  of  Hudson's  Bay  catches 
fur  for  half  the  world,  and  the  Beaver,  Otter,  Sable, 
Mink,  Wolverine,  and  Silver  Fox  still  flourish,  —  on 
across  Assiniboia  and  Saskatchewan.  See,  we  find  the 
names  of  fourfoots  everywhere  :  Bear  Lake  and  Rein- 
deer Lake,  Avhile  curving  from  the  Rockies  toward 
Hudson's  Bay  we  cross  the  Caribou  Mountains."' 

"  Did  you  learn  American  geography  when  you  went 
to  school  'way  up  in  Finland  ?  "  asked  Dodo,  "  or  did  you 
learn  it  by  walking  over  the  country?  " 

"  I  learned  a  little  even  then,  and  much  more  after- 
ward, and  I  have  lived  in  this  North  Country  for  three 
years.  Beyond  the  Caribou  Mountains  we  come  to 
Great  Slave  Lake,  and  from  there  up  to  the  water's 
edge  we  are  in  the  Barren  Grounds.  Barren  of  trees, 
of  everything  but  fiercest  Wolves,  the  White  Fox,  Musk 
Ox,  Caribou,  and  a  few  grim  Bears  who  wear  changed 
faces  from  their  grizzly  mountain  brothers,  through  liv- 
ing in  this  bare  wilderness.  This  place  is  like  a  battle 
ground,  where  Wolf  kills  Ox,  Caribou,  and  Fox,  while 
the  Indian,  when  he  ventures  up  so  far,  kills  all  these 
in  turn. 

'*  There  I  can  fancy  the  Musk  Oxen  standing  in  a 
herd  of  twenty  or  more,  packed  closely  for  defence, 
frightened  by  scent  of  blood,  as  if  wild  dogs  or  Wolves 


UNDER    THE  POLAR    STAR  279 

surrounded  them.  It'  it  were  spring,  I  should  know 
that  the  young  calves  were  there  inside  the  protecting 
ring.  What  are  they  watching?  One  of  their  herd 
in  terror  sniff's  and  paws  the  ground  where  a  Wolf  has 
dragged  some  bleeding  meat,  like  the  ox  in  our  picture. 
This  beast,  though  called  an  ox,  is  really  more  like  a 
great  sheep,  measuring  over  four  feet  at  the  shoulders/' 

"  How  is  it  more  like  a  sheep  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  The  Wise  Men  say  that  its  teeth  are  like  a  sheep's, 
and  its  feet  like  those  of  an  ox,"  said  Dr.  Roy,  to  help 
Olaf,  who  knew  what  he  had  seen,  but  not  so  much 
about  the  bones  and  building  material  of  animals.  "  He 
has,  you  see,  an  ox's  nose,  but  his  horns  curve  strangely 
downward.  His  brown  robe  is  longer  and  thicker  than 
the  coat  of  any  other  of  our  fourfoots,  quite  covering 
his  short  sheep's  tail.  The  hairy  coat  is  almost  two 
feet  long,  while  underneath,  packed  closely  to  the  body, 
is  a  fleece  blanket  that  falls  away  in  summer." 

"  I  see  his  funny,  turned-in,  hairy,  snow-shoe  toes, 
and  he  has  a  bit  of  a  Buffalo's  hump,"  said  Dodo,  after 
looking  at  the  picture.  "  How  queer  it  is  to  find  that 
such  strange  beasts  belong  in  our  America  !  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Dr.  Roy,  "  and,  what  is  more,  with  the 
exception  of  Greenland  they  live  nowhere  else  but  in 
North  America." 

"  Does  the  Musk  Ox  make  good  meat,  like  the  Buf- 
falo ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  Oh,  no,  very  poor  meat,  coarse  and  tough,  with  the 
rank  flavor  of  musk  that  gives  this  ox  its  name.  Only 
Wolves  and  starving  Indians  care  to  eat  it.  The  skin 
is  tough  and  serviceable  enough  if  you  can  get  it  off 
without  tearing." 


280  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"What  does  the  Musk  Ox  eat?"  asked  Nat. 
.  "  Moss,  why  grass,  and  lichens,  a  scanty  living  dug 
from  beneath  the  snow  with  the  hooked  horns,  or  scraped 
up  with  the  hoofs  that  do  double  service  in  digging  and 
helping  the  ox  climb  rocks,  and  also  to  run  swiftly  over 
slippery  ground.  The  cud-chewers  fare  poorly  in  the 
Northlands.  Where  the  prowling  flesh-eaters  can  feed 
upon  each  other,  the  grass-eaters  often  go  hungry,  and 
all  the  beasts  of  the  Barren  Grounds  are  flesh-eaters, 
save  the  Caribou  and  Musk  Ox. 

"  Now  we  go  further  north  and  reach  frozen  sea  edges. 
Round  these  ice-clad  borders  prowl  the  Polar  Bears, 
following  the  ice  downward  as  it  creeps  to  open  sea  in 
winter,  and  going  north  again  in  summer,  seldom  com- 
ing twoscore  miles  inland,  like  the  coast-loving  Eskimo 
himself. 

"  What  is  he  made  of,  this  great,  clumsy,  half-ton  mass 
of  flesh,  clothed  in  thick,  yellow-white  fur  from  nose  tip 
to  point  of  claws?  Clothed  ?  —  no;  padded  is  the  better 
word,  for  his  long  neck  and  small  head  grow  from  a 
rolling  bale  of  fur  on  legs.  This  White  Bear  sleeps  on 
ice  and  soaks  in  ice  water,  never  dreaming  of  the  cold. 
Can  he  be  warm-blooded  flesh?  But  yes,  he  is.  The 
she  Bears  bring  forth  their  young  in  icy  caves  and 
harden  their  cubs  to  swim  with  them  in  icy  seas,  and  to 
follow  their  parents  while  they  track  and  hunt  down 
their  Seal  and  Walrus  meat,  or  shuffle  along  the  shores 
to  feed  upon  dead  Whales. 

"  A  great  hunter  is  this  Bear,  quick  of  tooth  and 
claw;  he  stalks  the  Seals  as  men  do,  stealing  behind 
them  when  they  come  upon  land,  seizing  them  when 
they  turn  to  hide  in  their  water-holes.     Over  all  the 


Polar  Bear  and  Seal. 


UNDER    THE  POLAR    STAR  281 

lands  and  seas  of  ice  this  Bear  is  king  of  fourfoots. 
Of  man,  too,  he  ivas  king,  when  man  meant  only  the 
Eskimo  armed  with  a  knife  and  spear.  Then  Bear 
hunting  was  dangerous  indeed, —  blow  for  blow,  tooth 
against  knife-blade,  arm  of  muscle  tipped  with  long 
claws  against  brittle  harpoon.  Now  a  long-range  rifle, 
keen  eyes,  and  a  steady  hand,  have  turned  the  peril 
from  man  to  Bear,  and  soon  the  great  hungry  beasts 
will  have  left  the  Arctic  twilight  as  the  Bison  left 
the  prairie.  Snow  may  be  her  bed,  but  the  she  Bear's 
heart  beats  warm  and  lovingly  for  her  cubs,  —  or  rather 
cub,  for  she  usually  has  but  one,  —  and  she  Avill  let  her- 
self be  killed  before  man  or  beast  may  touch  it. 

"  Tramp,  tramp,  tramp,  go  the  Bear's  feet  through 
the  snow,  leaving  the  even-planted  print  of  heel  and 
toe,  as  a  man's  foot  does.  Now  follow  them  round 
Hudson's  Bay,  across  the  north  coast,  turning  south- 
ward down  Alaska.  Then  crossing  Behring  Strait,  go 
on  to  where  ice  floes  go  through  the  chains  and  dots  of 
islands  to  the  Pribilofs,  where  in  summer  there  are  no 
nights  and  in  winter  moonlight  is  daylight,  the  islands 
where  the  sealskin  jacket  lived  when  it  was  at  home, 
for  I  can  guess  that  this  jacket  was  once  the  covering 
of  three  bachelor  Seals  !  " 


XX 


A   SEALSKIN   JACKET   AT   HOME 


IE  now  leave  dry  land,  though 
when  one  follows  the  Polar 
Bear  over  the  caked  ice, 
who  can  tell  if  it  is  earth, 
rock,  or  frozen  water  that 
lies  underneath. 

"  The  tribe  of  fin-footed 
watermen  (Pinnipeds)  live 
on  the  frozen  sea  edges  and 
islands  from  Labrador  around  the  north  coast  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  The  Polar  Bear  spends  the  chief  part 
of  his  time  on  the  land,  going  in  fishing  and  swimming 
for  pleasure ;  but  these  watermen  pass  most  of  their 
time  in  the  water  where  their  food  is,  floating  with 
drifting  ice  floes,  and  hauling  up  on  the  islands  to  rest 
for  a  time  in  summer  when  their  cubs  are  born." 

"  Why  do  you  say  hauling  up  ?  "  asked  Nat.  "  Haven't 
these  beasts  legs,  and  can't  they  walk  ?  In  my  spelling 
book  it  says  haul  means  to  pull  or  drag." 

"  It  says  rightly,"  answered  Olaf,  "  for  these  beasts 
drag  themselves  when  on  land,  and  their  legs  are  not  as 
the  limbs  of  Deer  or  Bear,  but  flippers  set  deep  in  the 
flesh,  shaped  half  like  the  fins  of  a  fish.  To  see  them 
it  seems  impossible  that  they  should  move  at  all,  either 

282 


A    SEALSKIN   JACKET  AT  HOME  283 

in  water  or  on  land.  Four  kinds  of  these  fin-footed 
ones  I  know,  for  two  of  my  three  cold  northern  years 
I  lived  where  they  are  killed.  Pah !  it  was  a  cruel 
country,  reeking  with  smells,  and  mine  was  a  loathsome 
living. 

"  These  four  watermen  are  named  the  Walrus,  the 
Sea  Lion,  the  Sea  Bear  or  Fur  Seal,  and  the  Harbor 
Seal.  Of  these  the  Walrus  is  king,  if  size  and  ancient 
name  make  royalty.  Back  in  the  legends  of  my  coun- 
try this  'Whale  Horse,'  as  he  was  called,  of  the  Atlantic 
coast  is  pictured,  and  one  was  taken  to  good  King 
Alfred's  court  by  Othere,  the  Viking.  What  they 
thought  of  it  I  do  not  know,  but  those  were  the  days 
when  men  believed  the  sea  peopled  with  monsters  and 
saw  mermaids  riding  on  the  waves,  and  fashioned  the 
Unicorn  upon  their  shields  from  memory  of  that  spike- 
nosed  Whale,  the  Narwhal,  that  they  had  doubtless 
seen  stranded  upon  some  northern  beach.  But  no 
dream  beast  could  match  the  Walrus  in  homeliness. 

"  Look  at  the  picture  of  this  lump  of  fat,  flesh,  and 
bones  —  it  is  the  giant  of  the  coast,  those  on  the  Pacific 
shore  growing  larger  than  their  Atlantic  brothers.  Is 
he  not  monstrously  ugly  ?  Twelve  feet  and  more  from 
nose  to  rump,  twelve  feet  and  more  in  girth.  The  huge 
wrinkled  neck  supporting  a  small  head  with  small  eyes 
and  two  long  tusk  teeth,  while  the  rough  whiskers 
on  the  snout  look  like  seaweeds  clinging  to  a  water- 
mossed  rock.  What  has  the  beast  to  help  him  either 
swim  or  walk  ?  Four  limbs  so  deeply  sunk  in  flesh  and 
skin  that  you  see  only  five-fingered  hands,  wearing  skin 
mittens.  These  serve  well  for  paddles,  and  their  owner 
can  rest  almost  upright  in  the  water,  floating  easily,  for 


281  FOUIi-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

all  about  his  chest  and  neck  are  layers  of  oily  fat  or 
blubber,  which  make  a  life  raft  of  him.  while  his  thick, 
tough  hide,  scarred  with  wounds  from  rocks,  harpoons, 
Bears'  claws,  and  the  tusks  of  rivals,  keeps  him  from 
growing  water  soaked  and  chilly.  He  is  warm  blooded, 
and  yet  able  to  stay  under  water  half  an  hour  at  a  time 
without  coming  up  to  breathe. 

"  How  does  he  feed  this  great  body  of  his,  and  lay 
up  the  layers  of  fat  that  draw  his  hide  in  creases  like 
seams  in  rocks  ?  By  digging  clams  and  water  roots, 
scraping  mussels  and  other  shell-fish  from  the  kelp  beds 
with  his  tusks,  and  he  also  uses  these  tusks  as  hooks  to 
help  in  pulling  himself  over  the  rocks  and  shoals  of  the 
summer  breeding-grounds." 

"  Why  doesn't  he  eat  seaAveed  ?  "  said  Dodo.  "  I 
should  think  it  would  be  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to 
open  clams  enough  to  feed  such  a  'mense  thing  !  " 

"  All  of  this  tribe  of  Pinnipeds,  as  the  Wise  Men  call 
them,  live  chiefly  on  animal  food,"  said  the  Doctor, 
"  their  teeth  showing  them  to  be  flesh  eating  or  car-niv- 
o-rous,  but  Olaf  will  tell  you  that  they  do  not  stop  to 
open  the  clams  —  they  are  not  so  dainty  in  their  fish- 
ing as  the  Crows  !  " 

"No,  they  swallow  them  by  the  bushel,  shells  and 
all,"  continued  Olaf.  "  If  it  hurts  them  or  not,  who 
can  say,  for  they  tell  no  one  their  secrets,  but  it  may 
be  that  they  are  complaining  when  they  cry  and  roar, 
as  they  do  at  all  times  of  the  year,  with  a  growling 
honk  that  might  be  the  call  of  a  wild  goose  goblin. 
Sometimes  in  the  spring  and  early  summer,  the  season 
of  cool  fog  on  the  northwest  breeding  islands,  I  have 
stood  on  a  cliff  and  could  not  tell  by  sight  alone  if  it 


Atlantic  Tv'alkus. 


A    SEALSKIN   JACKET  AT  HOME  285 

was  ocean  all  about  me  —  then  I  would  hear  their  honk 
below,  different  in  key  from  the  roar  of  the  Sea  Lion." 

"  Aren't  they  awfully  fierce  beasts  to  meet  ?  "  asked 
Rap. 

"  They  look  fierce,  and  when  killed  with  spear  or 
harpoon  may  give  the  whaler  or  Eskimo  some  scars 
or  crush  him  by  rolling  their  ton  weight  on  him,  in 
their  terror  to  get  back  from  land  to  sea.  But  that 
is  all,  and  how  can  such  a  piece  of  clumsiness  long  es- 
cape extermination  if  he  is  hunted  persistently  with 
the  rifle?" 

"  Are  they  good  for  much?"  asked  Nat.  "  Of  course 
you  couldn't  use  that  ugly  skin  to  make  fur  coats,  and 
daddy  says  that  the  oil  from  wells  in  the  ground  is 
easier  to  get  nowadays  than  animal  oil." 

"We  could  do  without  them  well  enough,  but  they 
mean  food  and  clothes,  heat,  light,  and  life  itself  to  the 
poor  Eskimos.  Even  with  the  Walrus,  life  to  them  is 
not  easy;  without  him  it  means  awful,  slow  starvation. 
Listen  to  what  the  Walrus  gives.  First  of  all,  his 
coarse  meat  is  the  Eskimos'  beef,  their  only  change 
from  fish,  for  many  of  them  live  out  of  the  range  of 
Bear  meat  and  dare  not  venture  through  the  Barren 
Grounds  for  the  Musk  Ox.  Walrus  meat  is  eaten  fresh 
and  also  packed  away  as  food,  for  all  the  year.  Its  oil 
gives  him  light  and  fuel  also  in  that  treeless  land." 

"  Oh,  then  the  Eskimos  have  oil  stoves,  the  same  as 
we  do  !  "  cried  Dodo.  "  I  wonder  if  they  make  the 
choky,  smoky  smell  that  the  one  does  in  daddy's  dress- 
ing room  ?  " 

"  They  burn  the  oil  without  the  stove,  and  the  smoky 
smell  is  very,   very    large,"  said   Olaf,   spreading  his 


286  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

hands  wide  apart  and  wrinkling  his  face  as  if  he  re- 
membered a  very  bad  smell.  "  Next  to  the  oil  in  value, 
comes  the  hide.  When  it  is  stretched  and  well  dried 
it  makes  a  fine  cover  for  boats,  that  is  stronger  to  stand 
the  sharp-edged  ice  than  any  Avood  could  be  ;  the  hide 
also  serves  to  make  harness  for  the  Eskimo's  sledge 
dogs.  The  strong  sinews  of  the  back  make  thongs  for 
bird  and  fish  nets,  boot  laces,  and  thread  for  sewing 
boat  covers  and  clothes.  The  gullet  or  throat  is  used 
for  boot  legs,  with  the  flipper  bottoms  fitted  on  for 
soles.  The  intestines,  which  are  perhaps  sixty  feet 
long,  are  cut  in  strips,  and  when  stretched  and  dried 
are  sewn  together  to  make  the  waterproof  clothing  that 
these  people  wear  in  their  fishing  and  hunting." 

"  Oh,  dear,  how  much  the  poor  Eskimo  women  must 
have  to  sew  !  "  murmured  Dodo,  "  and  what  long  seams  ; 
I've  seen  Mammy  Bun  take  those  wormy  looking  insides 
out  of  a  chicken,  and  even  they  were  ever  so  long  !  " 

"  The  tusks,  though  of  a  poor  quality  of  ivory,  serve 
many  purposes,  not  the  least  of  them  being  to  trade 
away  for  such  iron  and  steel  articles  as  the  Eskimo 
needs  but  cannot  make.  Now  you  can  well  understand 
how  he  could  not  live  long  without  the  beast  that  yields 
him  so  much.  But  greedy  people,  who  have  many  other 
ways  to  make  a  living,  do  not  think  of  this,  and  fit  out 
steam  vessels  that  can  go  everywhere,  with  guns  that 
kill  from  far,  and  take  from  the  Eskimo  his  all. 

"  This  Walrus  is  a  first  cousin  to  the  Sea  Bear  or 
Eur  Seal  of  the  jacket,  and  Ave  must  go  down  the 
Behring  Straits  to  catch  him  in  his  home.  Down  past 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  St.  Matthew  Islands,  the  Walrus' 
summer  haunts,  Ave  come  to  the  Pribilof  Islands,  — ■  St. 


A    SEALSKIN  JACKET  AT  HOME  287 

Paul  and  St.  George,  —  where  I  spent  those  two  years 
of  much  disgust  !  " 

"  What  does  Pribilof  mean  ?  "  asked  Nat.  "  It  sounds 
as  if  it  might  be  the  Indian  for  pretty-far-off";  where- 
upon Dodo  laughed  in  great  glee  and  said,  — 

"  I  shall  always  call  those  the  Pretty-far-off  Islands, 
for  it  is  a  true  name  for  them  and  much  easier  to 
remember  than  the  other.  I  missed  that  last  week  in 
my  geography  lesson  !  " 

"  Pribylov  was  the  name  of  the  Russian  explorer  who 
discovered  this  group  which  now  belongs  to  us,"  said 
Dr.  Hunter  ;  "  his  ship  the  St.  George  giving  the  name 
to  one  of  the  islands.  These  islands  were  too  far  off 
shore  for  Indians  to  reach  them,  so  that  the  Sea  Bears 
and  Sea  Lions  lived  there  in  peace  until  the  coming  of 
civilized  people  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  years 
ago,  but  since  then  the  cry  has  been,  '  Kill  !  kill  !  kill  ! 
—  bulls,  cows,  cubs,  everything  ! '  —  the  Buffalo's  story 
again,  but  this  time  carried  out  to  sea  until  the  poor, 
persecuted  water  brothers  are  the  cause  of  dispute  be- 
tween nations,  and  it  seems  that  soon  nothing  will  be 
left  of  them  but  the  very  bones  of  contention  !  "  % 

"Wasn't  it  awfully  cold  on  these  islands,  Olaf  ?  " 
asked  Rap. 

"  Not  so  cold  as  on  the  mainland,  far  less  cold  than 
you  would  think,  for  the  warm  Pacific  current  flows 
around  them.  In  midwinter,  it  is  true,  ice  floes  come 
from  the  north  and  hush  the  song  of  the  surf  on  the 
beaches,  yet  it  is  not  so  keenly  cold  as  it  is  here.  With 
June  comes  summer,  for  there  are  no  half  seasons  like 
your  spring  and  fall.  In  winter  there  are  no  days,  in 
summer  no  nights." 


288  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  It  seems  quite  right,  too,"  said  Nat,  "  for  in  a  place 
like  that  there  can't  be  many  leaves  to  spring  up  and 
fall  down  again." 

"  Summer  is  the  season  of  cool  fogs  and  mists  that 
shield  the  Seals  from  the  sun  and  keep  them  comfort- 
able while  on  land.  In  fact,  the  summer  weather  is  like 
your  autumn  season." 

"  Then  it  is  no  wonder,  as  one  story  says,  that  the 
Seal  tribe,  ages  ago,  going  from  its  Antarctic  home  on  a 
swimming  excursion,  should  have  found  these  islands  a 
pleasant  camping  spot  and  passed  word  of  it  to  all  their 
relations,"  added  Dr.  Roy. 

"  What  do  you  call  the  people  on  these  islands,  Uncle 
Roy  ?  "  asked  Nat  —  "  Eskimos  or  Indians  ?  " 

"  They  are  Aleuts,  one  of  the  lowest  northwest  tribes 
of  Indians  and  akin  to  Eskimos." 

"  Now,"  continued  Olaf,  "  picture  to  yourself  a  fine, 
full-grown  male  Fur  Seal  as  he  comes  up  on  the  land 
the  last  of  May  to  select  the  square  of  shore  he  wishes 
for  his  summer  home.  He  is  not  more  than  five  or  six 
years  old,  which  is  the  prime  of  Seal  life.  He  is  more 
clever  than  the  Walrus,  moves  more  easily,  and  meas- 
ures about  seven  feet  from  tip  of  nose  to  where  his  tail 
Avould  be,  if  it  had  not  forgotten  to  grow.  At  this  time, 
fresh  from  the  feeding-grounds,  he  is  fat  and  should 
weigh  five  hundred  pounds.  His  head  is  small,  but  the 
eyes  large  and  speaking.  He  wears  a  long  mustache, 
but  it  is  of  bristles  and  not  like  that  of  the  Walrus, 
and  he  has  a  way  of  closing  his  nose  and  ears  in  swim- 
ming to  keep  water  out.  The  neck  is  long  and  the 
shoulders  are  thick,  and  he  is  a  better  shape,  not  slop- 
ing so  much  aft  as  the  Walrus.       His  fore  limbs  are 


A    SEALSKIN  JACKET  AT  HOME 


289 


merely  a  pair  of  black  gloved  hands,  but  his  hind  feet 
are  wider,  like  a  drawn-out  human  foot  spread  at  right 
angles  from  its  body.  He  uses  these  fore  flippers  in 
walking  quite  like  legs,  and,  though  he  shuffles  along, 
does  not  cling  and  crawl  like  the  Walrus.  His  hind 
flippers  propel  him  through  the  water  like  paddles. 


Sea  Bear  or  Fur  Seal. 


"  The  male  wears  two  coats,  like  most  fur  beasts. 
One  of  shining,  strawlike  over-hair,  the  other  the  soft 
under-fur  we  see  in  jackets.  At  the  first  glance  you 
would  say  that  this  Seal  is  dark  brown  in  color,  with 
some  white  or  grizzly  hairs.  The  female  is  much 
smaller,  not  measuring  more  than  five  feet.  She  is  less 
clumsy  and  of  more  graceful  shape.  Her  head  is  well 
formed  and  she  has  gentle,  lustrous  eyes.  Her  skin, 
when  wet,  varies  in  color  from  beautiful  deep  gray  and 
u 


290  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

whitish  underneath,  to  an  ashy  brown  mantle  and  buffy 
belly,  when  dry. 

"  From  early  May  until  the  middle  of  June  the  Seals 
come  from  their  winter  feeding-grounds  and  haul  upon 
land.  The  males  come  first,  each  striving  for  the  place 
he  likes  best  and  fighting  fierce  battles  with  his  rivals 
to  secure  it.  Thus  it  happens  that  the  strongest  Seals 
keep  the  best  places  near  the  water's  edge,  and  the 
weaker  are  driven  further  inland. 

"  When  the  females  come  in  late  June  or  early  July, 
only  a  day  or  so  before  their  cubs  are  born,  there  is 
fierce  war,  each  male  Seal  seizing  the  mates  he  wishes 
to  come  and  live  in  the  square  of  ground  he  calls  his 
house,  lifting  them  as  if  they  were  only  so  many  kit- 
tens. Thus  it  happens  that  those  strong  ones  near  the 
shore  secure  a  houseful,  while  those  far  up  have  hard 
work  to  find  even  one  mate.  Then  there  is  always  a 
herd  of  roving  bachelors,  young  Seals  and  those  who 
have  no  homes  or  mates,  who  go  together  in  a  separate 
place  to  spend  the  summer.  The  law  holds  that  these 
bachelors  are  the  only  ones  that  should  be  killed  for 
fur,  and  that  no  guns  or  dogs  shall  aid  in  their  killing. 
If  this  law  had  been  kept,  then  would  the  tribe  still 
hold  its  own. 

"  The  fur  of  this  Sea  Bear  must  be  taken  in  June  or 
July,  before  the  winter  coat  is  shed,  or  in  early  autumn 
when  the  new  coat  is  fresh,  for  the  law  says  these  ani- 
mals may  not  be  taken  on  American  ground  between 
October  and  June." 

"  But  suppose  people  follow  them  and  kill  them  in 
the  water  and  shoot  the  females,  too,  —  what  happens 
then  ?  "  asked  Rap. 


A    SEALSKIN  JACKET  AT  HOME  291 

"Trouble,"  said  Dr.  Roy.  "Trouble  between  nations, 
unwise,  angry  words  in  the  newspapers,  and  the  killing 
out  of  Seals  !  " 

"  If  Seals  may  not  be  chased  with  dogs  or  shot  at, 
how  are  they  caught  ?  "  asked  Olive. 

"  They  are  driven  up  to  the  killing  grounds,  as  pigs 
or  cattle  are  driven  to  the  slaughter  house !  "  said 
Olaf,  "  and  in  this  way  it  is  done. 

"  The  bachelor  Seals,  who  are  chiefly  those  under  five 
or  six  years  old,  live  by  themselves,  and  lie  near  the 
water  and  sleep  soundly,  but  in  the  homes  or  rookeries 
there  is  noise  and  tumult  all  night.  These  bachelors 
sleep  on  the  beach,  one  close  to  the  other,  like  rows  of 
tiles  upon  a  roof  top.  Down  go  the  drivers,  native 
Islanders,  and  take  their  stand  between  the  water  and 
the  Seals,  who,  being  awakened  and  seeing  the  men  be- 
tween them  and  the  water,  start  landward,  thinking  to 
escape,  and  so  are  driven  up  to  the  killing  places  near 
the  villages,  where  the  Seal  families  will  not  be  dis- 
turbed by  them." 

"  Isn't  it  very  slow  walking?"  asked  Dodo. 

"Yes,  very;  for  though  a  Seal  can  run  a  few  yards, 
he  can  walk  safely  only- half  a  mile  an  hour,  and  the 
drivers  must  be  careful  not  to  hurry  the  Seals,  or  the 
heat  makes  their  fur  drop  off  and  spoils  the  pelt." 

"  If  a  Seal  is  driven  too  fast  he  gasps  and  has  to  stop 
and  fan  himself,  for  Seals  have  no  sweat  glands  to  cool 
off  the  blood,  and  can  only  perspire  by  panting,  like 
dogs,"  said  Dr.  Roy. 

"  Care  must  be  taken  not  to  kill  very  young  Seals 
also.  A  Seal's  skin  is  best  when  it  is  three  or  four  years 
old,  after  that  it  grows  uneven  and  ragged.     The  pelt 


292  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

is  taken  quickly,  as  soon  as  the  animal  is  dead,  lest  it 
heat  and  the  fur  loosens.  Is  it  ready  then  to  make  a 
coat?  All,  no;  it  must  be  dried  and  sent  away  for 
skilful  hands  to  pluck  out  the  long  rough  hairs  that 
cover  the  soft  fur,  and  then  they  dye  this  under-fur  to 
the  soft  color  that  you  know,  the  color  of  that  jacket 
that  has  in  it  the  pelts  of  three  Seal  bachelors.  Of 
the  killing  of  the  Seal  I  will  not  speak,  only  to  say 
that  I  could  not  harden  myself  to  it  and  so  I  came 
away. 

"  Meanwhile  what  happens  in  the  rookeries  ?  The 
male  Seals  roar  and  fight  among  themselves,  the  young 
are  born,  and  the  cows  go  daily  to  the  sea  for  food, 
sometimes  staying  all  night  and  leaving  the  sucklings 
hungry,  for  the  cows  are  poor  mothers,  not  caring  much 
for  their  cubs.  The  males  are  brave,  however,  and 
fight  most  fiercely  to  defend  their  homes.  So  jealously 
are  these  homes  guarded,  lest  any  rival  should  touch 
their  families,  that  the  males  will  not  leave  to  go  down 
to  the  sea  for  their  food,  and  so  they  stay  on  land  and 
starve  all  summer.  In  the  autumn,  when  housekeeping 
is  over,  they  are  thin  and  wretched,  having  used  up  all 
their  fat,  like  the  Bears  at  the  end  of  winter." 

"  How  strange,"  said  Olive,  "  the  Bear  goes  without 
eating  in  winter  and  the  Seal  in  summer  !  " 

"  They  suffer  greatly  in  hot  Aveather,"  continued 
Olaf  ;  "you  may  see  them  lying  on  their  sides  fanning 
themselves  with  their  hind  nippers,  or  find  the  females, 
as  soon  as  the  young  have  learned  to  swim,  sleeping  in 
the  water  with  only  their  nostrils  out.  This  habit  of 
floating  and  sleeping  makes  them  an  easy  prey  for 
Sharks  and  the  fierce  Killer  Whales.      Even  on  land 


SEALSKIN   JACKET  AT  HOME  293 

the  Seal  sleeps  so  soundly  that  I  have  crept  up  and 
pulled  his  whiskers  before  he  awoke.  In  August  the 
homes  break  up,  all  is  in  an  uproar,  and  the  '  choo-choo- 
choo '  call  of  the  female  sounds  loud  above  the  surf, 
though  it  is  December  before  the  last  male  has  left  for 
the  winter  feeding-grounds. 

"The  Fur  Seal's  brother,  the  Sea  Lion,  haunts  these 
same  islands,  though  he  is  hunted  elsewhere  with  Otter 
spears  and  guns.  He  is  useful  chiefly  to  the  natives  of 
the  Aleutian  Islands,  giving  them  all  that  the  Walrus 
yields  the  Eskimo. 

"■  The  California  Sea  Lion  looks  much  like  a  male 
Seal,  but  his  neck  is  straight  and  thinner  and  his  front 
flippers  are  cased  in  mittens  without  even  a  thumb, 
while  the  Seal,  you  see  by  the  picture,  wears  short- 
fingered  gloves.  This  Sea  Lion  wears  no  fur,  but  is 
covered  with  short  hair,  which  varies  in  color  with  the 
season  from  yellow  to  dark  brown.  His  voice  is  a  deep 
lion's  roar  that  can  be  heard  above  the  storm,  and  his 
food  is  almost  like  the  Seal's, — fish,  shell-fish,  crabs, 
and  a  few  sea-birds.  His  flesh  is  not  bad  eating,  and 
the  fat  and  blubber  are  without  the  evil  smell  that 
makes  the  Seal  so  sickening  to  handle. 

"  This  Sea  Lion  is  shy,  keener  of  eye  and  ear  than 
the  Sea  Bear,  and  must  be  hunted  by  moonlight,  the 
driving  season  being  early  autumn.  When  the  Lions 
awake  suddenly,  like  the  Seals  they  start  to  escape  the 
Avay  they  happen  to  face,  some  going  seaward.;  the 
others  being  slowly  driven  up  to  the  villages,  for  they 
can  only  creep  and  hobble  along,  and  they  have  none  o£ 
the  cleverness  of  the  Fur  Seal.  These  also  we  will 
leave  at  the  killing  grounds  ;  to  follow  them  would  only 


294 


FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


sadden  you.  But  we  know  at  best  tliey  are  useless  to 
us,  and  trouble  the  Fur  Seals  by  worrying  them  and 
disputing  their  breeding  grounds,  so  the  Aleuts  are 
welcome  to  them. 

"  Another  waterman  there  is  that,  even  now,  you  may 
see  for  yourselves  some  day  about  a  rocky  harbor  or 
river  mouth.  He  wears  hair  and  no  fur,  and  he  is  the 
true  Seal,  not  the  Sea  Bear.     He  is,  or  was,  common  to 


Harbor  Seal. 

all  coasts,  and  has  many  names,  —  Sea  Dog,  Hair  Seal, 
Common  Seal,  or  Harbor  Seal." 

"  Harbor  Seal  is  the  name  that  Wise  Men  prefer," 
said  Dr.  Roy  ;  "  and  when  my  father  was  a  young  man 
these  Seals  haunted  the  rocks  of  New  York  harbor  in 
great  numbers.  Robbins  Reef,  that  we  have  so  often 
passed,  Olive,  was  called  after  these  Seals  by  Dutch 
sailors,  robyn  meaning  Seal  in  their  language." 

"  I  knew  not  that,"  said  Olaf ;  "  but  in  spring  they 
herd  about  Newfoundland,  having  their  young  in  May 
and    June,    but    going   to    the   warmer   sea    islands   in 


A   SEALSKIN  JACKET  AT  HOME  205 

winter.  They  are  beautiful  little  Seals,  with  dull 
yellow  skins,  often  handsomely  mottled  with  black, 
such  as  they  cover  trunks  with  in  my  country  ;  and 
among  the  Greenlanders  it  is  said  the  women  love 
the  skin  above  all  others  for  making  trousers." 

"  Do  savage  women  there  wear  trousers,  the  same  as 
some  women  do  here  when  they  ride  bicycles  ?  "  asked 
Dodo,  much  to  her  uncle's  amusement. 

"I  have  not  seen  those  savages  here,"  said  Olaf ; 
"  but  up  in  the  north  land  women  must  dress  much  like 
men,  or  they  would  surely  freeze. 

"  The  Harbor  Seal  cow  has  a  gentle,  half-human  face, 
and  a  better  heart  than  the  Fur  Seal.  She  is  a  kind 
mother  also  to  her  single  cub,  protecting  and  loving  it, 
and  grieving  if  it  dies.  These  seals  are  shy  beasts,  too, 
and  are  never  caught  in  great  numbers,  even  though 
their  flesh  makes  the  best  seal  beef.  They  lead  lonely 
but  happy  lives,  catching  sea-birds  and  fishing  and 
sporting  in  the  water  with  their  families. 

"  Now  we  will  leave  these  watermen  and  hurry  back 
home  across  country  lest  the  '  Day-Dream  Fox '  grows 
sleepy  and  the  real  Dream  Fox  finds  us  far  from  home, 
and  we  have  to  lie  out  in  the  snow  like  the  Polar 
Bear." 

Then  Olaf  blushed  and  looked  down,-  as  there  was 
a  clapping  of  hands  and  everybocty  thanked  him  for  his 
story. 

"  It  will  be  my  turn  to  clap  at  you  to-morrow  night," 
he  said  bashfully  to  Nez. 

"  I  didn't  think  the  watermen  would  be  half  so  inter- 
esting," said  Rap  ;  "  and  it's  almost  ten  o'clock  already." 

"  We  must  light  the  tree  once  more,  have  our  supper 


296  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

and  songs,  then  to  bed,  and  see  who  will  wake  first  to 
say  'Merry  Christmas'  in  the  morning,"  said  the  Doctor. 

Mr.  Blake  began  to  pick  at  his  banjo  and  play  a  lively 
jig,  accompanied  by  Olaf  with  his  fiddle.  Instantly 
Nat,  Dodo,  and  the  Brownies  began  to  skip  about,  Nez 
keeping  time  by  slapping  his  knees. 

"Let  me  have  your  violin,  Olaf,"  said  Mrs.  Blake. 
"  I  can  play  that  tune,  and  I  am  sure  that  you  can 
dance  a  sailor's  hornpipe." 

Blushing  up  to  the  roots  of  his  light  yellow  hair,  Olaf 
stepped  into  the  space  cleared  for  him,  and  danced  all  the 
intricate  in-and-out  steps  with  a  will.  As  he  finished, 
a  slight  noise  turned  all  eyes  toward  the  passageway, 
and  there  was  Mammy  Ban  doing  side  steps  and  a 
double  shuffle  all  by  herself,  in  spite  of  rheumatism. 
So  the  music  ended  in  a  shout  of  laughter,  and  Mammy 
waddled  off  to  bring  some  light  supper,  followed  by 
Nez  and  Olaf  as  waiters,  while  Mr.  Blake  threw  a  bas- 
ketful of  pine  cones  on  the  fire  to  make  a  final  blaze. 
***** 

"  Now  for  our  Christmas  hymn,"  said  the  Doctor, 
when  the  dishes  had  been  cleared  away,  the  tree  stood 
in  darkness,  and  only  the  firelight  danced  along  the 
walls  and  on  the  strange  mixture  of  faces,  —  white, 
black,  and  bronze. 

Mrs.  Blake  went  to  the  window  and  threw  back  the 
curtains ;  the  warmth  had  melted  the  frost  on  the 
panes,  and  the  starlight  shone  in  clear  and  bright.  Mr. 
Blake  took  Olaf's  violin  and  drew  a  few  notes  from  it, 
and  then  the  hymn  rang  out,  Mrs.  Blake,  Mammy, 
Olive,  Dodo,  and  the  boys  beginning,  the  Doctor  and 
Mr.  Blake  answering  :  — 


A   SEALSKIN  JACKET  AT  HOME  297 

"  Watchman!  tell  us  of  the  night, 
What  its  signs  of  promise  are. 
Traveller!  o'er  yon  mountain's  height 
See  that  glory  beaming  star  !  " 

The  children's  voices  warbled  as  sweet  and  fresh  as 
the  notes  of  birds ;  even  the  Brownies  caught  up  the 
tune,  though  the  words  were  unknown  to  them.  As 
they  finished  the  last  verse,  Olive  opened  the  long  win- 
dow softly  and  the  snowy  hills  showed  clearly  in  the 
piercing  starlight.  Then  she  whispered,  "  Wish  the 
stars  a  '  Merry  Christmas,'  and  let  peace  and  happiness 
in  at  the  window  !  Mother  taught  me  to  do  it  when  I 
was  a  little  girl." 

"  Merry  Christmus  !  Bress  de  chile  !  2"  remem- 
bers !  "  cried  Mammy  Bun. 

Then  they  went  to  bed,  and  Billy  Coon,  who  had 
been  crouching  behind  the  chimney  and  was  entirely 
forgotten,  came  out  to  forage  for  more  popcorn. 


XXI 


HORNS,  PRONGS,  AND  ANTLERS 

HEISTMAS  was  a  perfect  win- 
ter's day,  with  no  wind  and 
no  thawing  ;  a  day  for  sleigh, 
sled,  or  snow-shoes.  Snow- 
shoeing  being  the  very  new- 
est amusement,  Olive,  Nat, 
and  Dodo  practised  walking 
for  so  long  that  at  night  their 
feet  were  quite  tired  and  swol- 
len with  their  efforts  to  keep  up  and  the  cutting  of  the 
thongs ;  so  they  were  glad  to  hobble  to  their  places  by 
the  campfire  as  soon  as  supper  was  over.  As  to  the 
Brownies,  the  novelty  and  excitement  of  seeing  so 
many  people  quite  overcame  them,  and  they  stumbled 
from  the  supper  table  to  bed. 

"  What  pictures  will  you  choose  ?  "  said  Dodo  to  Nez  ; 
"because  you  promised  to  tell  us  a  story  to-night." 

"  A  picture  of  a  Moose  !  A  good,  big  Moose  on  the 
rampage  will  about  do  for  my  story,"  answered  Xez. 

"  Here  is  one  running  very  hard,  with  steam  blowing 
out  of  his  nose,"  said  Rap  ;  "  but  please,  Nez,  before 
you  begin  the  story,  won't  you  tell  us  about  the  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  antlers  that  the  Deer  wear,  and  why, 

298 


IIOENS,    PRONGS,   AND  ANTLERS  299 

if  they  are  shed  every  year,  some  pairs  are  so  much 
bigger  than  others.  I  always  used  to  think  that  the 
antlers  staid  on,  and  grew  bigger  and  bigger  every 
year." 

"  You've  caught  me  there,"  said  Nez.  "  I  know  the 
game  I've  shot  and  how  I  got  it,  and  that  Deer  do  shed 
their  horns  ;  but  you'll  hev  to  ask  the  Doctor  all  those 
reasons  why." 

"  This  is  as  good  a  time  as  any  to  make  a  procession 
of  horns,  prongs,  and  antlers,  and  look  at  them  care- 
fully as  they  go  by,"  said  Dr.  Roy.  "Olive,  please 
take  out  the  pictures  of  heads,  horns,  and  antlers  ;  also 
the  drawings  of  the  Moose  and  the  American  Deer,  and 
the  group  of  the  Elks  chased  by  the  Cougar,  that  we 
had  several  weeks  ago,  and  also  the  Caribou  picture 
that  we  had  last  night. 

"You  remember  that  the  first  division  of  the  meat 
family  wore  hollow  horns  like  a  cow's,  which  were 
made  of  hairy  fibre  and  grew  around  a  solid  core,  and 
that,  though  they  were  of  many  sizes  and  curved  in 
different  ways,  they  were  never  branched  or  divided. 
Nat,  can  you  tell  me  the  names  of  our  four  wearers  of 
horns,  without  looking  at  the  pictures  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  remember  them  all,  —  the  Bison,  Bighorn, 
Mountain  Goat,  and  the  Musk  Ox." 

"  Now,  Dodo,  do  you  remember  the  one  which,  though 
it  belonged  with  the  Deer  to  the  second  division  of  the 
meat  family,  had  pronged,  hollow  horns,  and  shed  them 
every  year  ?  " 

"  Oh,  }res  ;  the  one  that  you  stepped  on  when  you 
went  from  one  part  of  the  family  to  the  other  —  step- 
ping-stone you  called  it ;   Antelope  or  Pronghorn  is  its 


300 


Antelope. 


T 


~f, 


Mountain  Goat. 


Musk  Ox 


FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


name.  See,  I  can  put  my  finger  on  the 
picture  without  looking  at  the  print- 
ing !  " 

"  Bravo  !  Now  we  come  to  the  Deer 
family  itself  ;  all  of  its  members  wear 
antlers  of  solid  bone  —  bone  with  no 
hollows  in  it,  or  marrow  like  the  other 
bones  of  the  Deer.  See  how  many  dif- 
ferent shapes  we  find  among  these  antlers. 
Look  first  at  one  thing  —  the  enlarged 
knot  or  burr  where  the  antler  branches 
from  the  head." 

"  Yes,  I  see,"  said  Olive  ;  "  it  is  rough, 
and   swells   out   something  like  a  joint. 
It  looks  as  if  the  antler  were 
fastened  on  there." 

"  This  is  the  place  where 
the  old  one  separates  when  it 
ripens  and  falls  off,  and  where 
the  new  antler  sprouts." 

"Does  it  bleed  and  hurt 
the  Deer,  the  way  it  does  to 
have  a  tooth  out  ? "  asked 
Dodo,  who  had  recently  shed 
her  two  upper  front  teeth. 

"  That  depends  upon  how 
ready  the  antlers  are  to  fall. 
If  they  are  quite  dry  and 
ripe,  they  separate  easily  and 
bleed  very  little  ;  but  if  they 
are  knocked  off  by  a  blow, 
or    torn    from   their    sockets 


HORNS,    PRONGS,    AND  ANTLERS  301 

when  the  Deer  lock  and  entangle  their  antlers  in  light- 
ing", as  they  often  do,  then  the  stump  bleeds  profusely 
and  causes  pain.  In  either  case  a  sort  of  plaster  of 
veins  and  thick  skin  soon  grows  over  the  wound/' 

"  These  antlers  are  the  same  as  teeth,  then,"  said 
Dodo,  solemnly  ;  "  one  of  mine  tipped  over  itself  and 
scarcely  bled  at  all  or  hurt,  but  the  other  had  to  be 
jerked  with  a  string,  and  it  bled  lots  !  " 

"  Or  more  like  leaves,"  said  Olive.  "  Don't  you  re- 
member the  great  leaves  on  the  magnolia ;  in  the  sum- 
mer, they  held  fast  to  the  branch  and  sap  came  out  of 
the  socket,  but  after  the  first  frost  they  dropped  off 
themselves,  leaving  a  little  dry  scar?" 

"Oh,  yes,  I  do,"  said  Rap.  "  How  soon  after  the  old 
antler  is  shed  does  the  new  one  grow,  Doctor?  You 
said  the  Antelope's  new  horn  was  sprouting  under  the 
old  one  when  it  fell  off." 

"  With  the  true  Deer  there  is  a  time  of  rest  as  there 
is  with  trees,  and  the  antler  does  not  begin  to  sprout 
until  spring,  when  the  Deer  finds  fresh  green  food  once 
more.  Then  the  veins  and  skin,  which  covered  the  scar 
that  the  old  antlers  left,  begin  to  swell  like  a  dark- 
colored  bubble,  the  straight  beam  of  the  antler  appears, 
and  after  a  time  begins  to  branch  at  the  top.  It  goes 
on  growing  until  midsummer,  tine  after  tine  developing, 
according  to  the  age  of  the  animal.  As  yet  the  whole 
antler  is  covered  by  the  film  of  skin-covered  veins  that 
have  enlarged  with  it  and  aid  the  inside  veins  in  supply- 
ing the  bone  food  needed  for  such  rapid  growth.  Up 
to  this  time  the  outside  of  the  antler  is  rough  and  has 
a  furred  feeling  to  the  touch  ;  k  being  in  the  velvet '  this 
is  called. 


302  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  The  antlers  are  now  hardening  fast,  and  the  Deer 
rub  them  against  tree  trunks  and  on  the  ground  until 
this  velvet,  being  no  longer  needed,  peels  off  in  strips 
and  dries  away,  leaving  the  smooth  polished  bone  in 
early  autumn,  when  the  antler  has  attained  its  complete 
growth. 

"  Now  comes  the  answer  to  your  question,  Rap,  about 
the  various  sizes  of  antlers.  The  first  pair  on  a  young 
Deer  are  usually  straight  beams  with  few  tines,  but  they 
increase  in  size  each  year,  the  wonderful  pairs  we  hear 
of  belonging  to  very  strong  Deer  upward  of  six  or 
seven  years  old,  the  size  depending  both  on  strength 
and  age.  The  end  and  aim  of  this  wonderful  growth 
seems  to  be  to  furnish  the  jealous,  quarrelsome  stags 
with  weapons  for  fighting  each  other  during  their  court- 
ing season,  which  is  in  autumn  ;  for  shortly  after  this 
mating  time  the  shedding  begins,  though  some  Deer 
keep  the  antlers  much  longer  than  others,  and  Moose 
usually  shed  theirs  some  time  before  Elk.  As  you  look 
at  the  various  heads,  you  will  see  that  the  antlers  differ 
in  shape.  Those  of  the  American  Deer  and  Elk  are 
the  most  alike,  both  being  fined,  but  the  beam  of  the 
American  Deer's  branches  outward  and  forward,  and 
the  beam  of  the  Elk's  outward  and  backward.  These 
two  Deer  also  have  compact,  trim  feet,  with  the  hind 
toes,  called  dew  claws,  set  well  up ;  but  these  cloven 
hoofs  cut  through  the  snow  and  make  them  very  help- 
less in  seasons  of  deep  drifts. 

"  The  Moose  and  the  Woodland  Caribou  are  also 
somewhat  evenly  paired.  The  Caribou,  as  you  have 
seen,  wears  curious  antlers,  curving  and  bending  every 
which  way,  forward  and  back,  with  both  fined  and  leaf- 


c- 


1.  Woodland  Caribou.         2.  Moose.         3.  Elk. 


uonxs,  i' hongs,  and  antlers  308 

shaped  (or  as  the  Wise  Men  say  palmate)  ends,  wliile 
the  Moose  wears  his  wholly  palmate,  standing  out  wide 
behind  his  ears  like  sounding  boards,  and  sometimes 
spreading  six  feet  from  tip  to  tip  and  having  forty 
points.  The  foot  of  the  Moose,  too,  is  more  loose  and 
shuffling,  like  the  Caribou,  though  it  does  not  form  a 
complete  snow-shoe.  The  greatest  point  of  difference 
in  these  two  is  in  their  ears,  the  Caribou  having  very 
small  and  the  Moose  very  large  ones. 

"  Look  again  at  these  four  Deer :  two,  the  Elk  and 
American  Deer,  are  always  beautiful  when  at  rest  and 
graceful  in  motion;  wliile  the  other  two,  the  Moose 
and  Caribou,  are  interesting  and  curious,  but  ponderous 
and  awkward.  Your  first  thought  regarding  a  Moose 
must  always  be  of  wonder  as  to  why  his  ears  are  so 
long,  how  he  came  by  his  swollen,  overhanging  nose, 
called  the  muffle,  and  the  hairy  'bell'  hanging  from 
his  throat,  for  which  no  one  has  discovered  the.  use  ; 
while  the  Caribou's  legs  seem  uneven  and  you  wonder 
if  his  antlers  grew  on  his  head,  or  whether  they  were 
made  of  pieces  picked  up  and  glued  together  at  random. 
Again  the  four  may  be  divided  into  pairs  according  to 
the  haunts  they  seek.  The  American  Deer  and  the  Elk 
or  Wapiti,  love  park  land  and  woods  with  running 
water  and  high  shade  ;  the  Moose  and  Caribou  seek 
low  ground,  marshy  thickets,  and  the  neighborhood  of 
lakes  and  ponds,  enduring  cold  better  than  their  grace- 
ful brothers. 

The  Moose  is  the  largest  Deer  in  the  world,  and 
quite  as  homely  as  he  is  large  ;  he  stands  six  feet  at 
the  shoulders,  his  head  is  long  like  a  donkey's,  and  his 
large  ears  are  far  down,  baek  of  the  small  eyes.     His 


304  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

body  is  short  and  set  on  four  long  legs;  the  front  legs 
being  longer  than  the  back,  give  it  a  sort  of  hump  at 
the  shoulders.  The  winter  coat  is  dark  brown  above, 
with  thick  under-fur  of  a  lighter  color,  and  the  hair 
hangs  loose  and  manelike  about  the  neck ;  the  summer 
coat,  however,  is  soft  and  fine.  As  to  the  female,  im- 
agine a  very  large,  long-legged  donkey  cut  out  of 
faded,  weather-beaten,  brown  Canton  flannel,  and 
stuffed  rather  scantily  with  straw,  and  you  will  have 
an  idea  of  Madam  Moose ;  but  her  mate  finds  her 
beautiful,  fights  for  her,  and  is  very  fond  of  her. 

"  This  grotesque  beast  once  ranged  through  all  the 
northern  states  and  territories  of  this  country,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  between  the  frontier  states 
and  territories  up  to  the  land  of  the  Polar  Bear.  Now 
its  range  has  shrunk  on  every  side  ;  there  are  a  few 
in  the  Northeast  and  others  in  the  big  game  country 
from  the  Yellowstone  Park  northward.  They  are 
vanishing  fast,  however,  and  their  solitary  habits  and 
haunts  alone  have  saved  them,  for  they  feed  ever  in 
sheltered  places,  their  food  being  coarse  grass  and  water 
plants,  while  in  winter  they  browse  on  tree  buds  and 
even  evergreen  branches,  which  their  height  allows 
them  to  reach  easily.  Moose  hide  was  the  Indians' 
favorite  leather  for  moccasins,  and  Moose  meat  their 
standby  next  to  Buffalo  beef. 

"Next  in  size  to  the  Moose  comes  the  Elk,  or  Wapiti 
as  the  Wise  Men  say.  If  the  Moose  must  be  compared 
to  a  donkey  in  looks  and  voice,  the  male  Elk  has  cer- 
tainly all  the  grace  and  poise  of  a  beautiful  horse. 
His  head  is  delicate  and  shapely,  the  antlers  evenly 
balanced  and  carried  high,  the  eyes  full  and  restless, 


HORNS,    PRONGS,   AND  ANTLERS  305 

the  shaded  brown  body  round,  shapely,  and  set  firmly 
on  the  legs.  The  bull  Elk  stands  five  feet  at  the 
shoulders  and  often  grows  to  weigh  half  a  ton,  though 
the  females  are  far  lighter.  The  Elk  has  a  thick  skin 
and  heavy  winter  under-coat  of  fur.  His  flesh  yields 
fine,  rich,  satisfying  meat,  and  his  tallow  is  prized  in 
wood  cookery.  But  when  we  praise  his  personal  beauty, 
we  have  said  our  best  word  for  the  bull  Elk,  at  least. 
His  temper  is  extremely  disagreeable,  and  he  is  selfish 
and  at  times  cruel,  both  to  his  mate  and  the  young 
fawns,  driving  them  away  from  the  best  fodder  and 
playing  the  tyrant  in  every  way. 

"  The  Elk  once  ranged  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
United  States,  and  half-way  up  through  the  British 
Provinces  ;  but  wild,  shy,  hating  the  sight  and  sound  of 
man,  they  retreated  westward  very  quickly  as  the  coun- 
try settled,  and,  leaving  the  plains  and  prairies  to  the 
Bison  and  Antelope,  settled  in  the  mountain  parks 
where  the  water  supply  was  good.  In  and  about  the 
Yellowstone  Park  there  are  many  herds  of  Elk,  perhaps 
numbering  50,000,  and  their  cast-off  antlers  are  so  plen- 
tiful in  that  region  that  long  lines  of  fences  are  made  of 
them.  But  as  they  often  seek  winter  food  and  shelter 
out  of  the  bleak  park  in  a  place  called  Jackson's  Hole, 
pot  hunters  have  a  chance  to  capture  them  almost  in 
sight  of  Government  protection.  Ready  as  they  are  to 
eat  any  kind  of  vegetable  food,  even  to  gnawing  bark 
from  trees,  they  fare  poorly  in  winter,  since  their  range 
has  been  shut  in  on  every  side,  and,  weakened  by  lack 
of  food,  they  often  starve  and  freeze  in  considerable 
numbers,  their  skeletons  being  found  where  they  have 
lain  down  in  a  group  and  been  too  weak  ever  to  rise. 


306  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Our  last  Deer,  the  Virginia  Common,  or,  as  it  is 
now  to  be  called,  American  Deer,  is  the  daintiest  and 
most  lovable  of  all.  Each  one  —  stag,  doe,  or  fawn  —  is 
equally  beautiful  whether  lying  in  some  vine-shaded 
haunt,  sauntering  toward  a  brook,  standing  in  a  clear 
pool,  as  if  looking  at  its  own  image,  or,  when  startled, 
flying  over  the  fallen  logs  and  underbrush,  as  if  its 
little  feet  scarcely  touched  the  ground. 

"  Its  home  is  North  America  at  large,  if  we  leave  out 
the  far  north,  so  that  its  name  is  very  suitable.  Even 
to-day,  in  spite  of  persecution,  there  are  but  few  states 
which  have  not  a  family  or  two  of  these  gentle  creatures 
hidden  away  in  some  wood  or  valley.  To  me  this  Deer, 
fine  as  its  flesh  is,  has  always  seemed  more  of  a  pet  than 
a  game  animal  —  more  like  some  intelligent  though  shy 
friend  than  a  creature  to  be  hunted. 

"I  have  never  shot  one,  even  under  bitter  stress  of 
hunger,  without  regret,  and  if  I  stopped  to  think  of  its 
appealing  eyes  and  sensitive,  quivering  nose,  the  morsel 
of  venison  for  which  I  had  worked  so  hard  would  fairly 
choke  me.  To  adapt  a  famous  verse,  — '  Its  beauty 
gives  it  the  right  to  live.'  Hunger,  desperate  hunger,  is 
the  only  excuse  for  killing  such  animals  as  these,  and 
as  hunger  makes  man  a  savage,  we  must  then  expect 
to  find  savage  instincts  in  him. 

"  Three  feet  high  at  the  shoulder  is  this  little  Ameri- 
can Deer,  and  the  best  runner  among  our  fourfoots. 
It  is  quite  hardy,  and  may  be  seen  in  its  high  winter 
haunts  feeding  as  cheerfully  on  buds,  moss,  or  beech- 
nuts, pawed  laboriously  from  under  deep  snow,  as  when 
in  its  rich,  summer,  river  pasturage  of  marsh  grass, 
water  plants,  and  berries.    Almost  all  wild  animals  love 


HORNS,   PRONGS,   AND  ANTLERS  307 

water  in  warm  weather,  and  the  Moose  and  American 
Deer  revel  in  it,  taking  to  bathing  and  swimming  like 
small  boys. 

"  This  little  Deer  has  slim  legs,  a  slender  body,  and  a 
wedge-shaped,  white-lined  tail  for  its  danger  signal. 
Its  summer  coat  is  rich  and  varies  from  rust  color  to 
buff,  while  with  its  winter  coat  its  ruddy  beauty 
changes  to  sombre  grays  and  browns,  like  the  moult- 
ing of  its  meadow  mate,  the  Bobolink. 

"  The  does,  who  wear  no  antlers,  are  devoted  to  their 
young,  and  if  you  ever  see  one  of  the  soft-eyed  mothers 
tending  one  or  two  tiny  spotted  fawns,  either  in  the 
wild  country,  or  in  a  Deer  park,  I'm  sure,  boys,  that  you 
would  never  wish  to  point  your  gun  at  them.  You 
think  a  calf  or  a  colt,  a  puppy  or  a  kitten  amusing  in 
its  gambols,  but  for  pretty  ways  no  animals  are  so 
attractive  as  these  spotted  fawns." 

"  Do  Deer  sleep  the  winter  sleep  ?  "  asked  Dodo,  who 
was  growing  tired  of  what  she  called  "plain  facts,"  and 
wished  the  story  part  to  come ;  "  and  do  these  pretty 
Deer  fight  for  their  mates  like  the  others  ?  " 

"They  do  not  sleep,  neither  do  any  of  the  family; 
but  I  must  confess  that  they  fight,  and  sometimes 
fiercely  to  the  death.  Several  times  their  skeletons 
have  been  found  Avith  antlers  locked  so  tightly  that 
the  Deer  could  not  part  or  feed,  and  must  have  died 
of  hunger,  and  I  have  read  of  three  heads  being  found 
locked  thus  together.  Now  that  you  have  had  your 
facts,  we  will  beg  Nez  for  his  story." 

"  Only  one  more  question  please,  Doctor,"  said  Rap. 
"  Will  Deer  ever  chase  House  People  or  toss  them  on 
their  antlers?" 


308  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  A  wounded  Deer  brought  to  bay  will  sometimes 
hurt  his  pursuer,  but  there  is  no  real  danger  to  be 
feared  at  any  time  of  the  year  except  during  their  mat- 
ing season  in  autumn.  Then  with  their  powerful  full- 
grown  antlers  and  quick  tempers  they  are  not  only 
equipped  and  ready  to  fight  each  other,  but  anything 
else  that  crosses  their  path,  using  their  feet  as  well  to 
strike  and  trample.  But  even  then,  they  have  such  a 
dread  of  the  scent  of  man  and  gunpowder  that  they 
seldom  interfere  with  him." 

"  Come,  Nez,  it  is  your  turn  now  !  " 


XXII 


NEZ'    BIG   MOOSE 


ARE  say  yer  won't  like  my  story," 
said  Nez,  shyly,  as  he  leaned  for- 
ward toward  the  fire,  tipping 
up  the  bench  on  which  he  was 
seated,  and  began  whittling  a 
miniature  tent-pin  from  a  scrap 
of  pine  kindling  that  had  fallen 
on  the  hearth  ;  for,  in  spite  of  his 
years  of  tramping,  he  had  never 
conquered  the  nervous  Yankee 
habit  of  keeping  his  hands  busy.  He  did  not  raise  his 
head  as  he  spoke,  but  r^emed  to  be  talking  to  the  fire 
more  than  to  the  peoplt;  his  words  being  such  a  dialect 
mixture  that  the  children  had  to  listen  well  to  under- 
stand him,  and  I  am  sure  if  they  were  to  be  spelled 
quite  as  they  sounded,  you  would  never  be  able  to 
read  them. 

"  I've  seen  enough  Deer  in  my  day  and  tried  heaps 
of  ways  of  huntin',  some  fair,  some  ornery,  some  mean, 
and  some  meaner ;  but,  lookin'  back  on  it,  there's  only 
one  way  of  huntin'  and  one  beast  worth  huntin', — that 
Avay  is  stalkin'  and  follerin',  and  that  beast  is  Moose! 
Of  course  I  don't  mean  huntin'  to  feed  yer  camp  or 
yerself .  Feed  huntin'  is  different,  —  anything  yer  can 
eat  and  anyway  to  get  it  goes  then. 

309 


310  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  'Long  about  ten  years  ago,  when  I  was  raound  out 
Montana  way,  Elk  huntin'  was  good  'nough  fer  me. 
I  didn't  mind  chasm'  over  rough,  bust-up  ground  then, 
or  climbin'  mount'ins  as  high  as  trees  grew.  Elk 
weren't  so  hard  to  git,  winter  or  summer,  for  they  go 
in  sort  of  flocks,  and  when  you'd  see  one  you'd  likely 
strike  a  bunch,  but  Moose  are  lonesomer  and  only  travel 
in  slim  families.  In  summer  all  you  needed  for  Elk 
was  a  little  know-how  and  a  long-range  gun,  for  though 
they're  scary  beasts  they  are  kind  of  stupid  'bout  some 
things,  and  don't  put  two  and  two  together  as  quick  as 
some  others.  While  they  are  a  figurin',  in  comes  yer 
shot.  Of  course  if  a  stag  sees  yer,  he's  likely  to  give  a 
whistle  and  set  the  bunch  runnin',  but  anyway  you 
can't  expect  fourfoots  to  wait  for  yer  to  come  up  and 
sprinkle  salt  on  'em,  any  more  than  birds. 

"  Elks  don't  have  an  easy  life.  In  winter  the  poor 
things  come  down  to  git  in  warm  hollers  where  they 
could  paw  the  snow  away  and  find  grass,  and  if  the 
snow  was  deep  they'd  gnaw  bark  and  flounder  araound, 
so  it  was  easy  gittin'  them.  Deer's  fine  huntin'  too,  if 
yer  go  at  it  right,  and  good  sport;  but  there's  too 
many  short  cuts  through  sneak  trails  that  folks  has  got 
in  ther  habit  er  takin',  and  then  braggin'  of  their  kill, 
—  it  jest  about  sickens  real  sportsmen  !  " 

"  Please,  Nez,"  said  Rap,  "  }^ou  say  Moose,  Elk,  and 
Deer ;  aren't  Moose  and  Elk  both  Deer  ?  " 

"Yes,  o'  course  they  air  by  rights,  —  it's  only  a  way 
o'  speakin'.  Anywhere  I've  been,  if  yer  say  jest  Deer, 
without  any  other  handle,  it  means  common  Deer,  Vir- 
ginny  Deer,  or  what  Doc  calls  American  Deer,  because 
it's  the  one  best  known  from  Canady  to  the  Gulf.     A 


NEZ'    BIG  MOOSE  311 

woodsman  nor  an  Injun  never  says  Deer  if  lie  means 
Moose,  Elk,  or  Caribou,  Mule  or  Blacktail,  or  any  o' 
the  others." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  the  short  cuts  that  people 
sneak  through  ?  "  asked  Olive. 

"  The  ways  o'  killin'  that  don't  give  the  beast  fair 
play,  and  are  more  like  butcherin'  than  huntin',  —  fire- 
huntin',  houndin',  jackin',  and  all  sorts  of  water  killin', 
runnin'  'em  down  on  snow-shoes,  waitin'  at  the  salt 
licks,  and  '  callin' '  for  Moose. 

"  Fire-huntin'  is  creepin'  out  in  the  dark  where  you 
think  there  are  Deer  by  a  pond  or  marsh,  and  flashin' 
a  torch.  If  there's  any  Deer  about  they'll  stop  still 
and  look  at  the  light,  and  their  eyes  ketch  the  shine  of 
it  so  you  can  see  'em  and  get  good  aim  and  shoot  'em  in 
the  head,  for  they  don't  see  anything  but  the  light. 

"  Jackin'  is  'most  worse,  and  folks  use  it  on  Deer  and 
Moose.  You  take  a  boat,  and  sneak  at  night  in  the 
shadders  raound  a  pond  where  they  wade  in  to  feed  on 
water-lilies.  You  have  a  covered  '  Jack  '  lamp  on  your 
cap,  and  when  yer  hear  a  splash,  yer  turn  and  flash  yer 
light  that  way.  Half  likely  yer'll  see  two  stars  close 
over  the  water,  and  they'll  be  Moose  eyes.  Then  yer 
can  shoot,  or  if  yer  feel  real  mean  and  ugly  and  can  git 
the  canoe  between  the  Moose  and  shore,  you'll  make 
him  swim  fer  it  until  he's  tired,  and  then  kill  him." 

"  I  think  those  are  mean,  horrid  ways,"  cried  Dodo ; 
"  but  I  suppose  of  course  only  wild,  savage  sort  of 
people  do  it  ?  " 

"  You're  mistaken  there,  young  lady.  My  !  don't  I 
mind  doAvn  home  in  Maine,  when  I  was  a  little  shaver, 
how  the  fellers  used  ter  come  from  the  cities  all  rio-cred 


312  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

up,  and  calkerlatin'  to  git  jest  so  many  Deer  and  a  Moose 
or  two  in  jest  so  many  days.  Nothin'  would  do  but 
some  one  must  guide  them  to  the  Deer,  and  guide  the 
Deer  to  'em,  and  introduce  'em  with  a  gun  and  fire  and 
tricks,  — the  quicker  all  the  better  for  those  'sports.' 

"  I  do  hear  this  guidin'  is  a  perfession  now  up  that 
way.  But  land  alive,  Doc  !  what  would  the  fellers 
West  call  that  kind  o'  guidin'  ?  —  the  ones  Ave  knew 
that  lived  at  Red  Ranch.  When  we  and  they  went 
huntin'  we  all  pitched  in  and  tramped  and  starved 
alike."  And  Nez  looked  into  the  fire  as  if  he  saw 
something  miles  away. 

"  But  your  first  big  Moose,  —  tell  us  how  you  caught 
him,"  reminded  Nat. 

"  Yes,  I'm  workin'  raound  to  him.  It  was  that  fust 
season  that  I  was  lumberin'  in  the  Saskatchewan  coun- 
try, and  we'd  been  workin'  hard  gittin'  logs  ready  to 
haul  when  snow  come,  and  as  it  come  about  we  had  an 
off  spell  fer  a  week,  waitin'  fer  orders.  A  light  snow- 
fall come  'long  the  last  of  September,  and  old  Dom'nick 
Pardeau  and  me  allowed  to  git  a  Moose,  for  we  were 
'bout  tired  o'  beans  and  bacon  in  camp,  and  most  of 
the  outfit  was  too  fresh  with  guns  to  do  better  than 
scare  game  away.  So  we  allowed  to  go  on  a  reg'lar 
Injun  still  hunt,  trackin'  and  watchin'  signs,  which 
wasn't  hard  then,  on  account  of  the  snow  that  took 
the  footprints.  If  you  want  huntin'  that  only  an  Injun 
can  do  right,  try  to  follow  Moose  signs  in  plain  ground 
with  jest  moss  and  leaves  to  show  the  longish  prints. 
Of  course  we  had  to  hunt  this  way  in  day  time  and  try 
to  trail  the  Moose  to  his  bed,  for  they  feed  and  rove 
night  times,  and  hide  away  to  sleep  somewhere  soon 


NEZ'    BIG  MOOSE  313 

after  light.  It  was  the  season  for  call  in',  but  that  was 
night  work  and  I  hadn't  caught  well  on  to  that  then, 
though  I  did  it  seasons  after  when  it  wuz  my  turn  to 
keep  the  camp  in  meat." 

"  Is  there  a  season  for  calling  ?  Why  can't  you  do 
it  any  time,  day  or  night  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  Because  Moose  only  talk  and  shout  and  make  a 
noise  in  the  mating  season.  You  have  to  '  call '  in  the 
night,  because  if  it  was  light  the  Moose  would  see  you 
was  a  man  and  not  its  mate.  My  sakes  !  aren't  Moose 
keen,  though  !  Nothing  but  Wolves  can  beat  'em  at 
smellin'  and  hearin'  ;  but  then,  look  at  the  size  of 
their  ears  !  " 

"  Yes,  and  their  noses,  too  ;  I  guess  they  were  made 
to  hold  extra  big  smell  boxes,"  said  Dodo. 

"  They  can  smell  anything.  If  yer  reckless  with  a 
campfire,  or  let  the  wind  carry  a  whiff  of  tobacco  even, 
you'll  see  no  Moose  that  day.  Then,  in  spite  of  their 
big  bodies  and  horns,  they  can  steal  off  on  those  long 
legs  o'  theirn  as  soft  as  a  Wildcat,  and  they've  got 
human  sense  enuff  to  lie  down  facin'  their  tracks  to  see 
what  is  follerin'." 

"  They  have  very  long  legs,  to  be  sure,"  said  Rap. 

"  The  longest  of  any  beast  in  this  country  anyhow. 
They  air  jest  made  handy  to  pasture  on  trees  and 
bush  tops  and  keep  above  decent  snow,  and  if  they 
want  a  mouthful  of  short  grass  they've  got  to  duck 
for  it.  Now  the  Moose  is  a  bog  trotter,  except  in  dead 
of  winter,  and  Dom'nick  and  me  allowed  to  go  down 
to  the  pine  swamps,  for,  though  it  was  cold  and  there 
was  some  ice,  the  Moose  hadn't  left  their  water  feed- 
in'  and  made  up  parties  to  yard  for  the  winter." 


314  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Do  they  live  in  barnyards  in  winter  ?  "  asked  Dodo  ; 
"•and  if  they  do  who  feeds  them  ?  " 

"Not  much  they  don't.  Yards  are  places  where 
there  are  food  trees  and  bushes  growing  handy  so  that 
two  or  three  Moose  families  can  live  there  all  winter, 
treadin'  trails  through  the  snow  to  the  trees  to  feed, 
and  when  they've  eat  up  everything  they  can  reach, 
bark  and  all,  they  move  on.  This  time  when  Dom'nick 
and  me  started  out,  the  Moose  were  reckless,  as  they 
are  at  this  time  o'  year.  We'd  heard  them  crashin' 
through  the  woods,  beatin'  their  horns  in  the  bushes, 
and  callin'  in  the  night  araound  the  clearin',  for  they 
don't  seem  to  mind  the  noise  of  axes  choppin'  so  long 
as  no  one  fires  a  gun. 

"  We  tied  on  our  heaviest  moccasins,  made  out  o'  the 
hind-leg  skin  o'  Moose,  took  our  rifles  and  small  packs, 
and  started  down  toward  the  ma'sh  land.  I  tell  you  it 
was  cold  !  The  fog  was  thick  as  smoke  too,  but  it  let 
up  after  a  spell  and  then  began  to  snow  again.  After 
crossin'  raound  about  for  some  time  and  tryin'  to  keep 
headed  to  the  wind,  which  wasn't  easy,  for  sometimes 
it  wouldn't  blow  at  all,  and  then  it  would  whisk  up 
squally  from  anywhere. 

" '  Tracks  soon  be  covaired  !  See  here  Moose  vas 
been  !  Big  Moose  vary  angry,  tore  tree,  here  him 
eat,'  said  Dom'nick,  who  was  a  Canady  Frenchy,  but 
talked  choppy  like  a  half-breed. 

" '  Yes,  but  all  that  wasn't  sense  last  night  when  the 
snow  come,'  said  I.  Jest  at  this  minit  we  struck  a 
trail  comin'  from  over  across  a  deep,  black  ma'sh, 
makin'  toward  the  higher  wood.  Dom'nick  stooped 
down  and  looked  careful. 


NEZ1   BIG  MOOSE  315 

" '  Two  bull  Moose,  von  cow.  Big  Moose  found 
mate,  gone  over  wood,  home  to  big  marsh.  We  fol- 
low ;  maybe  hev  bad  time,  maybe  get  big  Moose.  Not 
talk  now  —  creep.'  So  then  we  crawled  on  and  on. 
It  stopped  snowin'  after  a  spell,  and  nigh  about  noon  I 
signed  to  Dom'nick  that  we'd  better  halt  and  eat. 
I  wasn't  as  used  to  the  snow  and  cold  as  I  got  to  be 
later,  and  I'd  twisted  my  ankle  in  an  old  stump  and 
was  feelin'  pretty  mean. 

" '  Can  eat  walkin','  was  all  he  said,  makin'  off. 

"  Pretty  soon  we  come  to  a  place  where  there  had 
been  a  Moose  fight.  Bushes  were  all  torn  up  and 
tramped  raound  about,  but  from  the  signs  it  must 
have  been  the  night  before  too. 

"  '  You  see  ?  You  want  stop  to  eat  now  ?  '  sneered 
Dom'nick,  forgettin'  I  was  young  in  the  bizness. 

"  I  tramped  and  stumbled  on  another  half  hour  and 
then  I  sez,  sez  I,  '  I'm  goin'  to  stop  right  here  and  eat 
and  make  a  fire  too ;  if  you  don't  like  it  you  can  go 
along.'  He  didn't  say  a  word,  and  he  didn't  stop,  nor 
even  look  araound.  I  bunched  some  dry  branches  and 
started  up  a  little  blaze,  warmed  my  hands  and  eat  my 
chunk  o'  bread  and  bacon.  Then  I  stamped  out  the 
lire  and  looked  araound  wonderin'  if  I'd  foller  Dom'nick 
or  turn  about. 

"  I  was  jest  standin'  between  some  pine  balsams, 
givin'  my  gun  a  wipe,  when  I  heard  a  crashin'  far  off, 
as  if  a  storm  was  tearin'  down  trees;  but  there  wasn't 
any  wind  then,  and  the  snow  had  cleared,  yet  I  couldn't 
see  anythin'  comin'.  Crash !  crash !  crash  !  nearer 
and  nearer.  I  grabbed  my  gun  and  waited.  I  could 
hear  hard  breathin',  but  I  couldn't  tell  first  if  it  was 


316  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

my  own  or  somethin'  else's.  You  often  git  that  feelin' 
when  yer  fresh  to  huntin'  and  hear  big  game  comin'. 
Pretty  soon  I  knew  the  breathin'  belonged  to  both  of 
us,  me  and  the  other  feller,  who  was  the  biggest  Moose 
I'd  ever  seen,  comin'  dashin'  along  over  old  logs,  snortin' 
and  blowin'  like  a  sawmill  engine.  I  up  with  my  gun 
and  shot  for  behind  the  shoulder,  but  he  didn't  stop, 
and  came  straight  on,  and  I  thought  sure  I  hadn't 
teched  him  and  my  aim  had  gone  over  'cause  he  was 
comin'  so  fast.  I  couldn't  fire  again  ;  he  was  too  close, 
and  makin'  fer  me  furius.  I  looked  to  git  behind  a 
tree,  but  jest  then  he  fell  over  not  twenty  yards  from 
where  I  wuz. 

"  I  come  out,  when  I  saw  he  was  dead  for  sure,  and 
took  a  look.  He  was  shot  through  the  heart,  and  as 
fine  a  moose  as  anybody  could  want.  I  didn't  know  then 
how  tough  his  meat'd  be,  or  about  measurin'  horns  a,nd 
countin'  spikes  in  those  times,  but  you  can  measure 
that  pair  now,  over  to  my  camp,  and  though  they're  old 
and  shabby,  they'll  tell  you  five  foot  eight  and  thirty- 
five  points.  Then  I  saw  there  was  blood  on  the  front 
of  his  horns,  that  couldn't  have  come  from  himself,  and 
I  began  to  wonder  what  had  become  er  Dom'nick.  I 
couldn't  lift  or  skin  the  Moose  myself,  so,  kind  er  set 
up  by  my  kill,  I  followed  Dom'nick's  trail. 

"  I  must  have  kept  on  four  or  five  miles,  when  the 
woods  sagged  down  to  swampy,  thick-covered  ground 
again.  The  Moose  trail  was  clear  enough,  but  Dom'nick 
walked  to  head  him  off,  not  in  the  trail.  Then  I  come 
to  a  place  that  puzzled  me ;  the  snow  was  melted  by  a 
warm  spring,  and  I  had  to  pick  up  the  trail  again  on  the 
other  side.     While  I  was  thinkin',  I  heard  another  great 


NEZ'    BIG  MOOSE  317 

crashin'  and  thrashin'  in  the  bushes  a  little  way  ahead. 
I  listened  ;  the  animal  that  made  it  wasn't  runnin',  but 
seemed  to  be  beatin'  around  in  one  place.  I  crawled 
along  careful,  lookin'  fer  trees  big  'nough  to  climb  if 
a  big  Moose  charged  at  me,  for  I'd  been  hearin'  tall 
stories  of  how  skeery  they  are  most  of  the  year;  they'll 
fight  anythin'  or  anybody  they  think  is  chasin'  their 
mate.  I  didn't  have  to  look  long.  Down  the  gap  I 
saw  a  Moose,  near  as  big  as  the  one  I'd  shot,  bangin' 
and  batterin'  away  with  his  horns  at  an  old  spruce,  and 
up  the  tree,  sittin'  on  a  rotten  old  branch  not  a  foot  above 
the  Moose's  reach,  was  Dom'nick,  without  his  gun  ! 

"  I  hurried  along  then  with  my  rifle  ready,  for  I 
reckoned  the  branch  he  was  holt  to  wouldn't  last  long, 
and  I  couldn't  git  an  aim  on  the  Moose  where  I  was. 
The  Moose  didn't  notice  me  a  bit,  though  I  made  some 
noise,  but  kept  poundin'  at  the  tree.  Then  I  fired,  but 
my  hand  shook  and  the  Moose  swung  his  head  araound, 
give  one  snort,  and  started  off  into  the  bog.  I  had  clean 
missed  him. 

"  '  You  vary  poor  shot  I '  said  Dom'nick,  tumblin'  out 
of  the  tree,  for  the  limb  broke  clean  off  jest  then. 

"  I  was  mad,  but  I'd  seen  enough  o'  Injun  manners  to 
keep  cool,  so  I  sez,  sez  I,  '  We've  got  'nough  Moose 
meat  five  miles  better  to  camp  than  here.  I  jest  wasted 
a  shot  to  let  you  out  o'  that  fix !  Where's  yer  own 
gun  ? ' 

"Dom'nick  looked  at  me,  and  then  he  laughed  and 
clapped  me  on  the  back,  and  said,  '  You  hav'  ze  good 
luck,  I  hav'  ze  bad,  so  I  tell  you.  I  walk  long  way, 
find  two  bull  Moose  fightin',  makin'  each  odder  bleed 
wiz  horns;    cow  track  run  away  home    to    marsh.       I 


318  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

creep  vary  near  —  they  not  see  me.  I  aim,  fire,  bang  ! 
Only  hit  one  in  horns  because  movin'  so  much.  I  move 
quick  to  get  anodere  shot ;  one  Moose  run  away,  one 
vary  mad  —  him  run  at  me.  I  hit  gun  'gainst  tree,  he 
jumps  out  of  hand,  den  I  run !  Angry  Moose  awful ! 
Can  break  chest  in  wiz  horns,  can  kick  like  horse.  I 
get  up  tree,  bad  tree,  little  few  branches.  Moose  vary 
mad.  Bang,  smash!  I  feel  branch  crack,  then  you 
come.     Can  smoke  now.     Good !      Both  smoke  pipes.' 

"  I  reckon  we  were  glad  enough  to  git  back  to  camp 
with  a  couple  o'  Moose  steaks  we  hacked  off,  and  the 
boys  went  out  with  horses  and  brought  the  carcass  back 
afore  the  Wolves  scented  it.  I  wasn't  goin'  to  say  a 
word,  but  Dom'nick  he  told,  and  let  the  laugh  on  him- 
self ! 

"  '  Nez  will  be  big  hunter  some  day,'  said  he,  '  he  has  ze 
luck.    Ze  luck  and  good  gun  are  great  t'ing  in  woods.' ': 

"  Is  that  all  ?  "  said  Nat,  as  Nez  stopped.  "  I  wish 
there  was  more." 

"  Want  to  know  !  I  reckon  that's  all  'bout  the  Moose, 
but  part  of  the  story  is  goin'  on  yet.  Dom'nick  he  took 
a  shine  to  me,  and  nine  years  ago  when  I  come  back 
East  from  Montana,  I  found  he'd  jest  died  and  left  me 
his  traps,  fixin's,  and  good  will.  Also  his  darter  (that 
was  a  bit  of  a  gal  when  I  went  West),  if  she'd  hev  me, 
—  and  she  did.  She's  Toinette,  my  wife;  so  you  see 
that  Moose  story  ain't  ended." 

"  Oh,  I  understand,"  said  Dodo,  after  thinking  a  mo- 
ment, "  and  she  speaks  a  kind  of  French  like  Dominique  ! 
But  what  kind  of  language  do  you  speak,  Nez  ?  " 

"  Want  to  know !  Why,  American,  for  sartin,  jest 
like  you  do  !  " 


NEZ'   BIG  MOOSE  319 

Dodo  opened  her  mouth  to  exclaim  at  this,  but  her 
father  broke  in :  — 

"  Certainly,  north  woods  American.  There  are  al- 
most as  many  kinds  of  American  spoken  here  as  there 
are  states  in  the  Union,  but  you  see,  Dodo,  there  are 
only  a  very  few  people  in  each  state  who  speak  pure 
American  or  English,  and  the  others  doubtless  think 
it  a  very  strange  language." 

"  Jest  so  !  "  exclaimed  Nez. 

"Are  there  a  great  many  fences  built  of  Moose 
horns  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  Nope,  I've  never  seen  one,"  said  Nez,  "  nor  found 
more'n  an  odd  horn  here  and  there.  The  Injuns  allow 
the  Moose  claws  earth  and  snow  over  'em  to  hide  'em, 
as  soon  as  they're  shed.  Seems  likely,  too,  and  then  it 
stands  to  reason  that  the  horns  mould,  and  rats  and 
mice  gnaws  'em  away." 


XXIII 


FISH   OR   FLESH 


JJRING  the  holidays  the  children 
spent  most  of  their  indoor  hours 
in  Camp  Saturday,  and  New 
Year's  night  found  them  pre- 
paring to  make  candy  from 
the  kettle  of  molasses  that 
Olive  was  watching  anxiously, 
waiting  for  the  exact  moment 
to  take  it  off  the  fire,  which 
is  so  important  when  you  are 
going  to  "pull"  molasses  candy  in  the  proper  old- 
fashioned  way. 

"  I  am  going  to  choose  all  these  footless  animals 
that  look  like  fishes,  but  are  Mammals,"  said  Nat, 
selecting  some  pictures.  "  I  wonder  why  Mammals 
look  so  very  different  from  each,  and  if  the  Wise  Men 
are  sure  that  these  Whales  and  things  are  not  fishes." 

"  Many  animals,  of  even  the  same  species,  are  adapted 
to  live  in  widely  different  places,"  said  the  Doctor.  "If 
you  look  at  the  lower  branches  of  the  animal  tree,  you 
will  see  that  of  these  animals  without  backbones,  some 
live  on  land  and  some  in  water.  Then  look  higher 
among  those  having  backbones  :  the  fishes  live  in  water  ; 
frogs  live   in  water  and  toads   on  land;    alligators  in 

320 


FISH  OR   FLESH  321 

water  and  snakes  on  land,  while  with  birds  some  live 
wholly  on  land  and  a  few  mostly  on  the  water. 

"  Of  course  when  we  speak  of  the  milk-giving,  warm- 
blooded order  of  Mammals,  we  usually  think  only 
of  animals  with  four  legs,  quadrupeds  as  they  are 
called.  But  an  Alligator  is  a  quadruped  without  being 
a  Mammal,  and  a  Whale  is  a  Mammal  without  being  a 
quadruped." 

"  It's  a  kind  of  a  puzzle  how  it  can  be,  isn't  it?  "  said 
Nat. 

"Not  if  you  remember  m — mammals,  m  —  milk,"  said 
Dodo,  quickly. 

"  You  must  have  often  heard  the  saying  that  '  the 
exception  proves  the  rule,'"  continued  the  Doctor;  "so 
the  story  of  these  footless  ones  is  the  exception  to  prove 
that  four  feet  are  the  rule  among  Mammals.  Look  at 
your  Mammal  tree.    What  is  the  lowest  branch  of  all?  " 

"  Pouch  wearers,"  said  Nat,  "  are  on  the  lowest 
branch  that  grows  with  us,  though  there  are  two  others 
lower  that  are  only  stumps.  Opossum  is  the  pouch 
wearer,  but  there  is  a  picture  of  him  in  the  portfolio, 
and  he  has  four  legs  and  a  curly  tail.  Why  is  he  lower 
than  no-legged  beasts  ?  " 

"I  will  tell  you  that  when  we  come  to  him.  What 
is  the  next  branch  ?  " 

"  Sea  Cows ;  and  the  ladder  says  there  is  only  one 
species  in  North  America  and  its  name  is  Manatee, 
and  that  it  is  eight  or  ten  feet  long.  Isn't  it  ugly, 
though !  Its  face  looks  like  one  of  those  big  tomato 
worms." 

"  We  thought  the  Walrus  hideous  and  grotesque,  and 
the   Sea  Lion  awkward,"  said  the  Doctor ;  "  but  what 


322  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

can  be  said  of  this  Manatee,  who  is  almost  helpless  on 
land,  being  unable  to  raise  his  solid,  sloping  body  on  his 
flippers,  though  when  he  is  in  the  water  his  fat  acts  as 
a  life-buoy,  and  his  wide,  round  tail  makes  him  an  ex- 
pert swimmer.  If  you  could  see  his  skeleton  you  would 
notice  that  his  nippers  are  really  arms  coming  from 
flat  shoulder  blades,  and  ending  in  five-fingered  hands 
which  the  flesh  hides.  Also,  that  instead  of  strong  teeth 
for  eating  flesh,  he  has  small  weak  teeth  fit  only  for 
chewing  vegetable  food.  Uncouth  as  the  Manatee  is, 
he  yields  three  valuable  things,  —  good  oil,  good  meat, 
and  good  leather,  and,  if  protected,  would  have  been  of 
great  use  to  the  people  of  the  coast  streams  of  Florida, 
where  he  lives. 

"Though  the  Manatee  spends  its  life  in  water,  it 
cannot  stay  under  water  more  than  five  or  six  minutes 
at  a  time,  and  when  it  comes  up  to  breathe  it  gives 
people  a  chance  to  shoot  it.  Sometimes,  however,  it  is 
caught  in  heavy  nets  spread  across  the  rivers  that  are 
its  favorite  feeding  grounds.  While  eating,  the  Manatee 
floats,  using  his  flippers  like  fans  to  guide  the  long  sea 
grasses  and  water  plants,  among  which  he  often  hides, 
to  his  mouth.  People  think  that  early  mariners,  in 
looking  down  through  clear  southern  waters,  saw  this 
monster  floating  upright  and  waving  its  flippers,  as  it 
looked  up  through  the  swaying  grasses  that  surrounded 
it  like  long  hair.  Being  surprised  and  veiy  much 
frightened,  they  lost  no  time,  on  going  back  to  shore,  in 
spreading  tales  of  the  beautiful  mermaids  they  had  seen 
combing  their  hair  and  riding  under  water  on  the  backs 
of  Dolphins,  while  they  sang  sweet  luring  music.  We 
can  see  for  ourselves  how  much  mistaken  thev  were, 


The  Manatee. 


FISH  OR  FLESH  323 

but  nevertheless  one  of  the  Manatee's  family  names  is 
Sirenia,  or  Siren,  which  does  not  seem  as  suitable  as  Sea 
Cow.  No  less  a  personage  than  Christopher  Columbus 
believed  that  these  Manatees  were  mermaids,  but  con- 
fessed himself  disappointed  in  their  beauty.  In  an  ac- 
count of  his  second  voyage  we  read :  '  The  Admiral 
[Columbus]  affirmed  he  had  seen  thereabouts  three 
mermaids  that  raised  themselves  far  above  the  water, 
and  that  they  are  not  as  handsome  as  they  are  painted, 
and  that  they  wore  something  like  a  human  face,'  which 
I  believe  is  the  first  mention  of  our  Sea  Cow  in  history. 
"  The  Manatee  is  slate-gray  on  top,  with  a  few  scat- 
tered hairs ;  the  belly  is  whitish.  Though  it  has  only 
fore  limbs,  in  resting  on  the  river  bottom  as  is  its  custom, 
it  curves  its  tail  fins  to  support  its  back,  after  the  fashion 
of  legs,  and  balances  by  resting  also  on  the  tips  of  its 
flippers.  One  or  two  calves  are  born  each  year,  to 
whom  the  Cow  is  most  affectionate,  being  said  even  to 
shed  tears  if  she  is  separated  from  them.  One  would 
think  that  there  need  be  no  fear  of  such  a  useful,  harm- 
less animal  becoming  extinct ;  but  man  kills  on  water  as 
well  as  on  land,  and  the  Manatee,  if  it  does  not  possess 
the  '  fatal  gift  of  beauty,'  has  a  gift  that  exposes  him  to 
even  greater  danger  from  the  half-wild  people  of  his 
haunts :  he  is  wonderfully  good  eating,  the  meat  being 
compared  by  different  people  to  young  pig,  veal,  and 
lamb.  So  it  will  not  be  long  before  we  shall  have  to 
say  '  good  day '  to  the  Manatee.  He  may  change  his 
skin,  as  he  does  every  year ;  men  will  not  change  their 
habits,  but  keep  on  killing  the  geese  that  lay  the  golden 
eggs,  like  the  people  in  the  fairy  story." 


324  FOUR-FOOTED  AMEBIC ANS 

"  Olive,  quick !  the  molasses  is  boiling  over,"  cried 
Dodo.  And  Mr.  Blake  had  barely  time  to  snatch  off 
the  pot  and  prevent  a  great  spill. 

"  It's  ready  to  pour  out,"  said  Olive,  trying  a  little  of 

the  mixture  on  a  spoon ;  "  then  as  soon  as  it  is  ropy, 

we  can  begin  to  pull.     Don't  put  it  out  on  the  snow, 

Nat;  we  want  it  to  grow  tough,  not  brittle,  this  time." 

***** 

"  The  next  branch  on  the  Mammal  tree  is  a  very  deep 
water  one,  the  Whale  branch,  and  the  Dolphins  and 
Porpoises  are  sort  of  twigs  on  it,"  said  Rap,  studying 
the  picture.  "  The  ladder  says  that  Whale  comes  from 
two  words,  meaning  roller,  and  that  they  can't  move  on 
land,  and  they  live  on  animal  food." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  the  Whales  are  all  rollers 
and  the  Porpoises  too,  though  the  Dolphins  are  quite 
graceful  and  sportive,  varying  their  rolling  motions  by 
wonderful  leaps,  so  that  I  do  not  wonder  the  mariners 
chose  them  to  be  the  mermaids'  horses. 

"  When  this  Whale  tribe  was  developed,  Nature  set 
out  to  build  some  Mammals  like  swimming  oil-tanks,  to 
furnish  light  and  heat  to  man  until  he  should  have 
learned  to  bore  into  the  earth  and  draw  oil  from  wells. 
As  usual,  Nature  succeeded  very  well,  and  among  these 
Whales  are  numbered  the  largest  living  Mammals,  some 
species  reaching  eighty  feet  in  length.  All  of  this  order 
yield  more  or  less  oil,  but  the  two  most  valuable  species 
are  the  great  Sperm  Whale,  or  Cachelot,  and  the  Bow- 
head.  The  Sperm  Whale  has,  in  a  hollow  in  his  head, 
a  lardy  substance  called  spermaceti,  from  which  candles 
are  made  ;  also  yields  a  perfume  called  ambergris,  and  is 
entirely  covered,  under  the   skin,  with  a  layer  of  fat 


FISH  OR   FLESH  325 

blubber,  which  not  only  keeps  him  afloat,  but  when 
tried  out  yields  barrels  of  sperm  oil.  This  Whale  is 
of  a  curious  shape,  being  obliged  to  turn  on  his  back 
when  he  wishes  to  take  anything  in  his  mouth.  If 
you  could  see  the  skeleton  of  a  Whale  you  would  find 
that  he  has  five  finger  bones  hidden  in  his  front  fins,  the 
same  as  the  Manatee.  It  is  impossible  to  realize  his 
immense  size  when  seen  in  the  water,  but  if  by  chance 
one  is  stranded  on  a  beach,  men  seem  but  pigmies  beside 
him.     The  nostrils  of  the  Whale  are  high  on  the  top 


Sperm  Whale. 

of  its  head  so  as  to  be  as  far  out  of  water  as  possi- 
ble. People  used  to  think  that  Whales  took  water  into 
their  mouths  and  blew  it  out  through  their  nostrils,  a 
proceeding  which  is  called  spouting  in  Sea  Stories.  But 
the  truth  of  the  matter  is,  that,  breathing  slowly  as 
water  animals  must,  but  with  great  force,  the  warm 
breath  turns  to  a  fountain  of  spray  when  it  comes  in 
contact  with  the  cold  air,  and  so  the  mistake  arose. 

"  Hunting  these  Whales  was  once  the  great  industry 
of  the  New  England  coast,  and  many  stories  and  books 
have  been  written  about  it ;  but  those  days  have  passed 


326  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

with  all  other  times  of  good  hunting,  and  for  the  same 
cause. 

"  The  cow  Whales  are  exceedingly  fond  of  their 
young,  sporting  and  playing  with  them  in  the  water, 
pausing  frequently,  and  floating  on  their  sides  to  give 
the  calves  a  chance  to  take  their  milk  food.  If  a  young 
Whale  is  caught  or  wounded,  its  mother  usually  gives 
her  own  life  rather  than  leave  it. 

"  As  the  whalers  paid  no  respect  to  the  season  when 
the  calves  were  young  and  helpless,  but  even  followed  the 
cows  into  the  only  homes  they  had,  —  the  bays  where 
the  calves  are  born  and  are  nursed,  —  it  is  little  wonder 
that  a  hundred  years  or  more  of  such  work  has  thinned 
out  these  sea  giants.  Now  Whale  fishing  is  chiefly  done 
in  the  Northwest,  where  Behring  Strait  joins  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  and  steam  craft  with  long-range  guns  and  dyna- 
mite bombs  are  hastening  the  extinction  of,  at  least,  the 
useful  members  of  the  order. 

"  Man  may  get  oil  from  the  ground,  but  there  is 
something  yielded  by  a  few  species  of  Whale,  like  the 
Bowhead  and  Finback,  for  which  no  substitute  has 
been  found.  I  mean  whalebone,  which  is  really  no 
more  true  bone  than  is  a  cow's  horn.  The  Whales  who 
give  this  substance  have  no  teeth,  and  large,  broad 
mouths,  so  that  if  they  open  them  to  take  in  a  mass 
of  mollusks  (the  shell-fish  upon  which  they  feed),  they 
would  either  have  to  swallow  a  great  quantity  of  water, 
or  risk  losing  their  meal.  Nature  made  a  provision  for 
this,  just  as  the  grooved  saw-tooth  bill  was  arranged  to 
strain  the  water  from  the  food  of  the  duck.  Plates  of 
horny  fibre  were  developed  from  the  part  of  the  Whale's 
mouth  called  the  palate,  so  as  to  make  both  a  gate  and 


FISH  OB   FLESH  327 

a  sieve  to  strain  the  water  off,  and  allow  only  the  food 
to  be  swallowed.  This  gate  is  arranged  in  such  a  way 
that  it  lifts  up  like  a  drawbridge  when  the  mouth  opens, 
and  closes  at  the  exact  moment  when  it  is  needed. 
You  can  well  imagine  that  any  substance  at  once  strong 
and  yet  pliable  enough  to  close  inside  a  Whale's  month, 
must  be  very  durable  and  flexible. 

"  This  whalebone,  made  into  strips,  is  used  as  the 
foundation  for  many  articles,  chief  among  them  being 
the  best  driving  whips  and  the  '  bones '  for  corsets  and 
dress  waists.     But  the  real  whalebone  is  growing  rarer 


Finback  Whale. 

and  more  costly  each  year.  The  Arctic  Bowhead  yields 
the  finest,  longest  balee?i,  as  the  Wise  Men  call  this 
whalebone.  The  Finback  Whale,  such  as  you  see  in 
the  picture,  also  grows  baleen,  but  it  is  of  a  poorer  sort." 

"  Why  are  they  digging  a  hole  in  this  Whale  with  a 
shovel  ?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  That  is  the  old-fashioned  blubber  shovel  with  which 
they  used  to  cut  the  blocks  of  solid  blubber  from  the 
Whale,  just  as  you  have  seen  turf  cut,  in  order  that  the 
fat  may  be  boiled  down  to  extract  the  oil." 

"  I  wish  you  would  tell  us  all  the  ways  of  catching 
Whales,  and  all  the  places  they  live,"  said  Nat. 


328 


FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 


"  That  would  take  too  long  now,  and  your  candy 
would  grow  quite  hard ;  but  some  evening  I  will  show 
you  pictures  of  all  the  Whales,  and  read  you  about  the 
fisheries  from  one  of  the  great  black-covered  Government 
books  in  my  study.  I  only  wished  to  show  you  now 
that  they  really  are  branches  of  our  Mammal  tree,  even 
though  these  branches  trail  in  the  Atlantic,  Pacific,  and 
Arctic  oceans. 


The  Porpoise. 


"  The  common  Porpoise  that  we  see  rolling  about  the 
sounds  and  harbors,  and  his  brother  the  Dolphin,  seem 
mere  babies  in  size  compared  to  these  true  Whales.  The 
Porpoise  travels  in  parties  of  various  sizes,  and  makes  a 
terrible  fuss  in  getting  through  the  water,  rolling,  snuf- 
fling, and  grunting  like  a  pig,  from  which  noise,  together 
with  the  small  piglike  eyes,  it  took  the  name  of  Sea 
Hog  and  Herring  Hog.     Every  time  a  Porpoise  rolls  he 


FISH   OB   FLESH  329 

shows  the  long  fin  on  his  back,  and  this  violent  effort  is 
made  to  allow  him  to  get  his  nose  sufficiently  out  of 
water  to  breathe.  Porpoises  are  of  very  little  use  to 
man,  which  accounts  for  the  numbers  constantly  seen. 
They  often  do  positive  harm  in  our  home  waters  by  eat- 
ing quantities  of  fish  that  travel  in  schools,  like  harbor 
blues,  herring,  menhaden,  etc.  They  are  said  to  be 
good  fighters  and,  when  in  a  herd,  able  to  surround  quite 
large  prey  and  drive  it  in  any  direction  they  choose. 
The  young  are  curious  creatures,  looking,  when  a  few 
days  old,  like  black  bottles  about  two  feet  long.  Por- 
poises very  seldom  spring  wholly  from  the  water  like 
Dolphins,  though  they  have  been  known  to  do  so,  even 
leaping  over  boats  when  badly  frightened. 

"  Of  Dolphins  there  are  many  species,  found  in  all 
salt  waters,  and  ranging  in  size  from  five  to  fifteen  feet. 
They  seem  to  be  made  for  beauty  rather  than  use,  and 
are  as  swift  as  the  Porpoises  are  clumsy.  We  hear  of 
them  everywhere,  in  mid-ocean  chasing  fishes  or  each 
other  with  dash  and  vigor,  or  sporting  and  leaping  from 
the  water  in  a  spirit  of  pure  fun.  They  seem  to  be  the 
gentlemen-of-leisure  of  the  ocean,  a  sort  of  literary  fish 
playing  a  much  more  important  part  in  poetry  and  his- 
tory than  in  reports  of  the  fishing  industries.  When  is 
old  Neptune  ever  pictured  as  taking  a  ride  through  his 
watery  kingdom  armed  with  his  trident,  that  he  is  not 
driving  Dolphins  ?  When  he  is  carved  in  stone  to  play 
king  and  sit  beside  a  fountain,  who  are  his  gentlemen- 
in-waiting?  Dolphins.  If  a  Prince  in  a  fairy  tale  wishes 
to  send  a  magic  ring  to  his  Princess,  imprisoned  in  a  coral 
cave,  who  but  a  Dolphin  does  he  choose  to  carry  it  ? 

"Yes,  Dodo,  I  know  the  molasses  is  ready  to  pull. 


330 


FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


Dolphins. 


Butter  your  fingers,  then  dip  them  in  flour,  or  I  shall  be 
asked  to  dress  blisters  to-morrow.  Meanwhile  remember 
that  if  any  one  asks  you  how  you  know  that  Whales  are 
Mammals  and  not  fishes,  remember  to  tell  them  that 
the  Wise  Men  say,  — 

" '  A  fish  has  cold  blood,  breathes  through  gills,  and  lays  eggs; 

A  Whale  has  warm  blood,  breathes  with  lungs,  and  cares  for  its 

young  as  a  cow  does. 
A  fish  has  tail  fins  that  run  up  and  down,  lying  flat  with  its  body ; 
A  Whale's  tail  is  set  crosswise  and  it  is  moved  in  swimming  like  the 

blades  of  a  propeller,  while  both  tail  and  front  fins  do  not  look 

unlike   the   hind  feet   and  flippers  of  its  blood  brother,  the 

Seal. ' " 

"  Quick,  Nat !  "  cried  Olive,  "  your  lump  of  candy 
will  fall  if  you  pull  so  slowly.  Now,  one,  two,  —  pull; 
three,  four,  —  double  it  over."  Then,  for  the  next 
half  hour,  Camp  Saturday  was  enveloped  in  sticky 
silence. 


XXIV 


RATS   AND   MICE 

HREE  blind  mice!  Three  blind 
mice !  See  how  they  run,  see 
how  they  run ! "  sang  Dodo. 
"  That  is,  how  they  would  run  if 
they  could,"  cried  Nat,  as  they 
rushed  into  the  wonder  room 
a  little  before  tea  time,  carrying 
a  long  cage  rat-trap  between 
them.  "  Look  !  live  of  such  queer  little  things.  They 
are  not  house  mice  nor  moles,  nor  like  the  pretty  White- 
footed  Mouse  that  comes  from  under  the  hearth  in 
camp.  See  what  blunt  faces  they  have!  What  do 
you  think  they  are  ?  " 

"  Meadow  Mice,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  and  a  fine,  healthy 
lot  of  them,  too.     Where  were  they  caught?" 

"  Rod  set  the  trap  in  Olive's  pansy  frame,  because  the 
plants  were  bitten  and  he  had  seen  a  rat  or  two  about 
that  side  of  the  barn,  and  this  morning  when  he  looked 
all  these  were  in  it.  You  can  catch  'most  anything  in 
one  of  these  traps.  Big  or  little,  if  it  steps  on  the  plat- 
form it  falls  in,"  said  Nat.  "  Stop  fussing,  and  keep 
still,  so  we  can  see  what  color  you  are." 

"  A  brownish-gray  coat,  a  light  vest,  short  tail,  small 
ears,  and  only  pin-head  eyes,"  said  Olive,  looking  over 
his   shoulder.     "It's   a   very   stout    Mouse,    is    it   not, 

331 


332 


FOUB-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


Meadow  Mouse. 


father?     More  like  a    Prairie    Dog  or  Woodchuck  in 
shape  than  like  one  of  its  own  family." 

"It  is  a  chunky  Mouse,  but  in  the  great  Order  of 
Gnawers  to  which  it  belongs,  we  have  many  variations 
of  a  general  plan,  and  striking  contrasts  are  to  be  seen, 
particularly  in  heads  and  tails.  If  }rou  wish  to  be  intro- 
duced to  some  of  the  four-footed  nuisance  animals  now 
is  the  time,  for  these  Meadow  Mice  are  as  troublesome 
about  the  garden  and  orchard  as  the  rats  in  the  granary, 
or  the  House  Mouse  in  the  pantry ;  and  rats  and  mice  are 
largely  responsible  for  the  bad  name  worn  by  the  entire 
Order. 


" '  Rats ! 


They  fought  the  dogs  and  killed  the  cats, 

And  bit  the  babies  in  the  cradles ; 

And  ate  the  cheeses  out  of  the  vats, 

And  licked  the  soup  from  the  cook's  own  ladles ! 


RATS  AND  MICE  333 

"  Do  you  remember  how  anxious  the  Mayor  of  Hamelin 
was  to  get  rid  of  the  rats,  and  what  a  mean  trick  he 
played  on  the  Pied  Piper?  Also,  how  the  blind  mice 
chased  the  farmer's  wife  until,  in  self-defence,  '  She  cut 
off  their  tails  with  a  carving  knife  ! '  And  they've  been 
in  mischief  ever  since." 

"  I  wonder  why  the  first  farmer's  wife  didn't  kill 
them  instead  of  cutting  off  their  tails,"  said  Dodo.  "  I 
think  she  was  cruel." 

"  Perhaps  they  all  hid  in  a  crack  and  their  tails  hung 
out,  and  so  she  cut  them  off  to  punish  them,  and  remind 
them  not  to  chase  her  again,"  suggested  Olive. 

"  This  Meadow  Mouse  is  one  of  the  tribe  who  ate 
the  lily  bulbs  last  spring,"  continued  the  Doctor,  "  and 
who,  following  in  the  Mole's  tunnel,  gnawed  the  juicy 
roots  of  the  geraniums  so  that  they  broke  off  a  little  be- 
low the  ground.  I  have  often  seen  their  runways  twist- 
ing in  and  out  among  the  grass  tufts  in  the  old  meadow, 
and  between  the  stumps  or  fence  posts,  under  which 
they  have  winter  lodgings.  In  summer  they  live  almost 
wholly  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  making  nests 
among  the  grass,  and  at  that  season,  of  course,  they 
destroy  a  certain  amount  of  corn  and  damage  stacked 
grain  by  nibbling  it  from  the  straw,  but  above  all  they 
are  garden  pests.  These  mice  do  not  sleep  the  winter 
sleep  ;  and  if  there  is  no  snow  to  protect  the  roots  of 
shrubs  and  fruit  trees,  they  are  sure  to  suffer  severe 
gnawing.  Early  in  the  season  I  saw  a  number  of  them 
in  the  new  peach  orchard,  but  I  think  this  deep  snow 
will  save  the  trees  this  year." 

"Are  they  common  mice?"  asked  Olive.  "It  seems 
strange  that  I  have  never  seen  any  before." 


334  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"Yes,  they  are  very  common,  at  least,  through  the 
half  of  the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi.  They  feed 
chiefly  at  night,  which  is  probably  the  reason  you  have 
not  noticed  them." 

"  Then  people  who  live  the  other  side  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi are  not  bothered  with  them  ?  "  said  Nat. 

"  They  may  not  have  this  particular  Meadow  Mouse, 
but  there  is  sure  to  be  a  near  cousin  for  every  part  of 
the  country,  and  one  for  every  day  in  the  year  too. 
Why,  aside  from  all  the  other  gnawers,  there  are  two 
hundred  species  in  the  family  of  Rats  and  Mice  alone." 

"  What  makes  a  species  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  One  fine  day,  long  ago,  some  Meadow  Mice  from  a 
certain  place  might  have  been  accidentally  carried  far 
away  from  home  to  a  place  where  the  food  and  country 
and  climate  were  entirely  different  from  where  they 
were  born.  They  had  to  change  their  habits  a  little  to 
suit  their  new  home,  and  after  many  generations  this 
change  of  habit  made  a  change  in  their  looks.  Their 
feet  might  be  larger,  or  they  might  have  grown  a  new 
pattern  in  coats.  Then  some  Wise  Man  noticed  this 
and  said,  '  Here  is  a  new  species.'  So  the  Wise  Men  who 
are  trying  to  draw  the  family  tree  of  these  nuisance 
animals  cannot  finish  it  yet,  because,  no  matter  how  each 
one  works  on  his  tree,  someone  else  is  always  going 
out  and  finding  new  species  that  must  be  added  as 
twigs." 

"  Then  I  guess  we  can't  learn  all  the  names  of  that 
family,"  said  Dodo. 

"  No,  indeed.  There  are  about  ten  species,  however, 
belonging  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  whose  pict- 
ures I  can  show  you  and  whose  names  you  must  try  to 


EATS  AND  MICE  335 

remember,  for  you  may  very  likely  see  them  all  in  their 
homes  sooner  or  later.  Take  your  trap  with  you  to  the 
camp,  for  it  is  nearly  time  for  supper,  and  this  evening 
I  will  give  you  the  list." 

*  *  #  *  * 

Doctor  Roy  brought  an  old  blackboard  from  his  store 
closet,  and  setting  it  by  the  animal  tree  told  Nat  that 
he  might  write  the  names  of  the  ten  nuisance  animals, 
together  with  the  parts  of  the  country  they  inhabit,  and 
a  few  facts  about  them. 

Quick  and  Mr.  Wolf  were  lying  before  the  fire,  and 
took  a  great  interest  in  the  mice  which  Dodo  was  vainly 
trying  to  feed  with  crumbs. 

"  You'd  like  to  give  them  a  shaking,  Quick,  wouldn't 
you?  But  you  can't,  for  I'm  going  to  collect  a  men- 
agerie and  begin  it  with  these  and  Billy  Coon." 

"I'll  give  you  a  Gray  Squirrel.  I  caught  one  a  week 
ago  to-day.  It  was  so  hungry  it  came  right  in  our  wood- 
shed, and  it's  a  beauty,"  said  Rap ;  "  only  you'll  have 
to  be  careful,  for  the  dogs  don't  understand  about  wild 
pets,  and  I'm  pretty  sure  they  are  watching  out  to  shake 
Billy  Coon." 

"  See  how  nicely  that  mouse  is  sitting  up  and  wash- 
ing his  face,  just  like  a  cat,  and  what  pretty  little  paws 
he  has !  Even  if  mice  are  nuisance  animals  I  like  them, 
and  I  think  they  are  much  more  fun  to  play  with  than 
dolls,"  said  Dodo. 

"  I  wonder  how  you  will  like  it  in  the  spring  if  you 
find  they  have  eaten  the  tulips  that  you  planted  so  care- 
fully," said  the  Doctor. 

"  I  shall  be  very,  very  much  disappointed,  and  m-a-d," 
said  Dodo,  decidedly. 


336  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Our  nuisance  animals  belong  to  four  different 
groups,  so  we  will  begin  with  the  best  known,  —  the 
family  circle  of  Rats  and  Mice. 

"  The  White  Lemming  comes  first  on  my  list.  It  is  a 
rather  wicked  destroyer  of  grass  and  roots,  belonging  to 
the  cold  north  country  with  the  Caribou,  Musk  Ox,  and 
Polar  Bear.  It  furnishes  many  meals  for  the  Arctic 
Fox  and  the  Snowy  Owl,  who  evidently  intend  that 
Lemmings  shall  not  become  too  plenty.  It  is  short  and 
thick-set,  about  the  size  of  a  Mole,  with  small  ears,  what 
Olive  calls  '  pin-head '  eyes,  and  a  scrap  of  a  tail  like 
a  Rabbit.  In  common  with  many  of  the  northern 
animals  it  wears  '  protective  coloring '  in  its  coat,  being 
covered,  feet  and  all,  with  white  fur  in  winter,  chang- 
ing to  shaded  browns  in  summer,  the  season  that  it 
burrows  in  the  ground.  Its  winter  nests  are  of  moss 
above  ground  or  in  little  snow  caves. 

"  The  next  is  that  swimming,  burrowing  gnawer  the 
Muskrat,  who  is  every  inch  a  rat  as  far  down  as  his 
flattened  tail  and  scaly,  webbed  hind  legs,  where  he  sug- 
gests the  shape  of  his  burrowing  and  mud-pie-making 
brother,  the  Beaver.  He  is  a  heavy  animal,  with  short 
neck  and  long,  sharp  hind  claws  for  digging,  and  fore 
paws  like  hands,  with  four  fingers  and  a  thumb.  He 
secretes  a  muslcy  odor  that  gives  him  his  name. 

"  The  Muskrat  is  certainly  the  aristocrat  of  his  family, 
for  he  wears  a  most  beautiful  soft  fur  coat  that  neither 
mud  nor  water  can  destroy.  (Your  father,  you  remem- 
ber, has  a  cap  made  of  it. )  He  finds  places  suitable  for 
his  home  in  the  greater  part  of  North  America,  and 
there  are  few  ponds  and  sluggish  streams  that  do  not 
tell  tales  of  him.     He  lives  and  finds  his  food  in  the 


RATS  AND  MICE 


337 


water,  and  seems  out  of  his  element  when  on  land.  He 
prefers  to  attend  to  his  affairs  at  night,  when  the  sun 
cannot  spy  upon  him,  and  he  is  sociable  as  well  as  shy, 
preferring  village  life  to  solitude,  so  that  many  of  the 
domed  winter  houses,  built  of  reeds,  sticks,  and  mud,  are 
usually  found  near  together.  These  homes  are  built 
in  shallow  water  and  are  entered  from  below ;  there  is 


MUSKRAT. 


a  comfortable  living-room  inside,  just  above  the  water 
level,  with  many  passages  from  it  where  the  family  can 
hide  in  times  of  danger.  The  doorway  being  under 
water,  allows  the  Muskrat  to  go  out  in  ■  winter,  when 
the  surface  is  frozen,  and  secure  marsh  roots  and  the 
other  vegetable  food  that  he  needs.  So  he  does  not 
sleep  the  winter  sleep,  nor  yet  store  up  food  like  the 
Beaver. 


338  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

"  The  objection  which  classes  the  Muskrat  among  nui- 
sance animals,  is  not  because  they  eat  valuable  things, 
but  because  of  their  burrowing  habits  ;  they  cause  river 
and  pond  banks  to  cave  in,  and  undermine  mill-dams.  I 
know  of  a  large  and  valuable  tract  of  marsh,  the  drain- 
ing of  which  has  been  twice  abandoned  because  myriads 
of  Muskrats  kept  burrowing  through  the  dikes.  The 
Muskrat's  summer  home  is  in  a  bank  burrow,  an.d  at 
this  season  he  varies  his  vegetable  food  with  fresh- 
water mussels.  He  is  a  great  fighter,  and  has  been 
known  to  attack  people  on  slight  provocation,  and 
without  being  cornered. 

"  The  true  Rats  and  Mice  have  bright  eyes,  large  ears, 
soft  fur,  and  naked,  scaly  tails.  They  eat  both  animal  and 
vegetable  food,  which  habit  is  called  being  omnivorous. 
The  Meadow  Mouse  we  have  been  discussing  comes 
first  among  these,  and  next  the  graceful  White-footed  or 
Deer  Mouse,  that  you  have  made  friends  with  at  the 
fireside.  This  mouse  must  feel  quite  at  home  here  in 
camp,  or  he  would  not  show  himself  so  freely,  for  they 
are  very  shy  by  nature,  feeding  at  night,  and  pre- 
ferring' the  shelter  of  wheat  stacks  and  outbuildings  to 
houses,  though  I  believe  they  are  the  common  House 
Mice  of  some  districts.  This  mouse  is  a  great  climber 
and  jumper,  placing  its  nests  in  all  sorts  of  nooks;  now 
in  a  bird  or  Squirrel's  nest  high  up  in  a  tree,  then  again 
neatly  weaving  a  round  home  of  its  own  in  some  bush 
a  few  feet  above  ground.  They  cache  grass  seeds  and 
grain  underground,  and  altogether  this  little  Deer 
Mouse  is  so  pretty  and  dainty,  with  its  white  feet  and 
vest  and  ruddy  brown  back,  bright  eyes,  and  long  black 
whiskers,  that  I  am  glad  to  say  that  it  does  little  harm. 


BATS  AND  MICE 


:)3D 


"  Now  you  must  jump  from  a  mouse  a  little  over  three 
inches  long  to  the  great  Cotton  Rat,  who  is  as  big  as  a 
Chipmunk  and  equally  mischievous.  Fortunately  we 
do  not  have  him  here,  but  he  is  common  from  Virginia 
southward.  His  body  is  about  six  inches  long,  with  a 
medium  tail.  He  has  round  ears,  and  wears  a  rusty 
brown  coat  and  gray  vest.     Though  he  usually  is  kind 


Cotton  Rat. 


enough  to  keep  out  of  gardens,  he  riddles  fields  and 
meadows  with  his  underground  galleries,  and  you  can 
see  his  footpaths  winding  through  brush  lots  and  woods. 
He  does  much  harm  by  sucking  the  eggs  of  game  birds, 
besides  eating  grass  and  vegetables.  This  is  one  of  the 
nuisance  animals  that  the  Gray  Fox  helps  to  keep  down, 
and  it  should  be  remembered  to  his  credit.  The  Cotton 
Rat  was  so  named  because  he  was  the  familiar  species 
of  cotton  fields,  and  was  supposed  always  to  line  his  nest 


340 


FO Uli-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


with  cotton  that  he  had  collected  and  stored,  but  he  as 
frequently  uses  leaves  and  grass. 

"  Another  one  of  the  family  about  the  size  of  the  last 
is  the  Marsh  Rat,  who  is  so  fond  of  swimming  that  he 
seems  almost  like  a  link  between  the  true  Rats  and  the 
Muskrat.     He  makes  his  nest  at  the  foot  of  a  stump  or 


Maksh  Rat. 


sometimes  in  the  centre  of  a  little  island  of  reeds  as  the 
Grebe  does,  jumping  directly  from  the  nest  into  the 
water  and  swimming  away. 

"  The  Wood,  Trade,  or  Pack  Mat  is  quite  a  character. 
His  personal  appearance  is  extremely  handsome ;  he 
wears  a  coat  of  tawny  gray  fur  with  white  vest  and 
boots ;  he  has  big  mild  eves,  while  his  face  wears  more 


EATS  AND  MICE 


841 


of  the  Rabbit's  gentle  expression  than  the  cruel,  greedy 
look  of  a  rat.  His  gnawing  habits  do  not  seem  to  get 
him  into  very  deep  disgrace  with  the  farmers  ;  it  is  his 
ambition  that  leads  him  into  trouble.  He  wishes  to  be 
an  architect,  bric-a-brac  collector,  and  pedler  all  in  one. 
If  he  and  his  wife  make  their  home  in  an  outbuilding  or 
attic  you  will  think  the  house  full  of  evil  spirits.     This 


Wood  or  Pack  Rat. 

Rat  comes,  sees,  takes,  hides,  and  sometimes  returns, 
articles  with  lightning  rapidity.  What  for,  no  Wise 
Man  that  I  know  is  able  to  tell.  Do  the  Rats  decide  to 
make  a  nest  under  a  bush,  immediately  they  set  to  work 
to  stack  up  a  heap  of  out-door  rubbish  as  high  as  a  Musk- 
rat's  lodge ;  paper,  shavings,  corncobs,  clothes  pins,  old 
straps  and  buckles  from  the  stable,  ends  of  rope,  news- 
papers, a  kid  glove,  all  having  been  found  stored  away 


342  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

inside  one  of  these  strange  homes.  Once  in  my  Colorado 
p  camping  days  a  pair  of  these  Rats  turned  our  '  dug- 
out '  camp  topsy-turvy  during  a  two  days'  absence. 
They  filled  the  tea  kettle  from  a  heap  of  shavings  and 
splint  wood  that  had  been  cut  for  kindling,  mixed  a 
quantity  of  fish  hooks  in  a  sack  of  flour  that  was  up  on 
the  roof  logs,  emptied  a  case  of  shot  on  the  hearth,  and 
made  away  with  every  tin  spoon  our  outfit  could  boast, 
In  return,  they  filled  the  frying  pan  with  a  lot  of  sticky 
cones  that  they  must  have  brought  from  half  a  mile 
away.  When  we  returned  they  seemed  to  think  they 
had  improved  the  camp  and  made  it  more  homelike, 
and  peeped  at  us  proudly  from  between  the  boughs. 

"Rats,  however,  who  cannot  keep  their  hands  off  the 
property  of  others,  may  be  interesting,  but  even  if  they 
are  bric-a-brac  collectors,  they  never  should  be  allowed  a 
foothold  inside  one's  home.  Meddlesome  House  People, 
hear,  and  take  warning !  " 

***** 

"  Be  careful,  Dodo,"  said  Olive  ;  "  if  you  keep  moving 
that  trap,  the  first  thing  you  know  the  door  will  come 
unhooked  and  all  those  mice  will  get  out,  and  Quick 
will  tear  everything  to  bits  trying  to  get  them." 

"Our  second  group,  the  Gopher  family,  contains 
upwards  of  thirty  members,  two  of  which  are  fairly 
common. 

"  The  Gophers  are  stout  burrowing  animals,  seven  or 
eight  inches  long,  with  outside  cheek  pouches  for  carry- 
ing home  their  provisions  ;  strong,  long,  gnawing  teeth, 
and  powerful  fore  limbs  armed  with  desperate  claws  for 
digging  out  their  homes.  Happily  they  do  not  live  very 
near  us,  but  they  are  a  scourge  in  the  prairie  regions  of 


EATS  AND  MICE 


343 


the  middle  West.  Gophers  not  only  destroy  grain  and 
the  roots  of  forage  plants,  turnips,  mangels,  etc.,  but 
they  waste  the  land  itself,  making  it  a  network  of  bur- 
rows and  pitfalls  and  throwing  up  the  dirt  from  their 
lairs,  not  carrying  it  through  the  main  entrance  but 
bringing  it  out  of  side  ways,  and  heaping  it  until  it  makes 
great  mounds  that  cover  and  destroy  acres  of  sprouting 


Pouched  or  Mole  Gopher. 


crops.  Then  they  are  restless  animals,  moving  constantly 
and  making  new  homes,  so  that  the  Gopher  plague  goes 
on  the  list  of  farming  miseries,  side  by  side  with  grass- 
hoppers, seven-year  locusts,  and  blizzards.  Yet  the 
farmer  seldom  thanks  the  Hawks  and  Owls  for  their 
missionary  work  in  the  Gopher  community,  and  wages 
war  on  the  Coyote  who,  in  Gopher  Land  at  least,  does 


344 


FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


farming  more  good  than  harm.  The  Gophers  are  tedi- 
ous though  easy  animals  to  trap,  for  they  only  live  in 
families  during  a  very  short  time  in  the  year,  each  indi- 
vidual preferring  a  nest  to  himself.     Poison  is  danger- 


Gray  Pocket  Gopher. 


ous  to  domestic  animals,  when  scattered  about  freely  as 
it  would  have  to  be  in  such  cases,  so  that  much  honor  is 
waiting  for  some  one  who  shall  invent  a  cure  for  the 
Gopher  plague,  but  it  must  be  a  cure  that  is  not  worse 
than  the  disease." 

"  Perhaps  you  will  find  it  out,  Rap,'7  said  Dodo, 
smiling  confidently  at  him. 

"  The  well-known  Hed,  Pouched  or  Mole  Gopher,  the 
chief  species  of  the  middle  West,  has  a  clumsy  reddish- 
brown  body  as  long  as  a  Chipmunk's,  a  large  head,  and 
very  wide,  hair-lined,  cheek    pouches    reaching  to  the 


RATS  AND  MICE 


345 


shoulders ;  small  ears,  small  eyes,  and  long  gnawing 
teeth  that  overhang  the  lips.  It  sleeps  the  winter 
sleep,  which  I  wish  you  to  remember  the  Wise  Men  call 
lii-bcr-na-ting. 

"The  Crray  Pocket  or  Northern  Gopher  is  found 
further  north  than  any  of  its  kin,  touching  his  Red 
brother's  haunts,  and  ranging  from  Montana  to  the 
plains  of  the  Saskatchewan  country  where  Nez  shot  his 
Moose.  This  species  is  smaller  than  the  Red  Pouched 
Gopher,  and  has  hoary,  brownish -gray  fur ;  otherwise  it 
does  not  greatly  differ  from  it. 


' 


Kangaroo  Rat. 


"  Now  come  two  lighter,  more  graceful  fourfoots  be- 
longing to  the  Family  of  Pouched  Rats  and  Mice,  — 
the  Kangaroo  Rat  and  the  Pocket  Mouse. 

"  The  Kangaroo  Mat  looks  like  a  joke  on  legs.     To 


346  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

begin  at  the  opposite  end  from  usual,  he  has  a  tail  six 
and  three  quarter  inches  long,  while  his  body  only 
measures  five  inches  and  a  half.  This  tail  ends  in  a 
sort  of  brush,  and  he  can  use  it  as  a  rudder  or  turn  and 
twist  it  like  a  snake.  Next  come  wide  hips  and  a  very 
high  pair  of  legs,  particularly  long  from  foot  to  knee 
like  the  Jack  Rabbit's  ;  after  this  the  Rat  slopes  rapidly 
toward  short  arms,  a  pointed  head,  trimmed  with  outside 
cheek  pouches,  fur-lined  round  ears,  bright  e}Tes,  and 
long  whiskers.  His  coat  is  of  soft  shaded  brown.  These 
Rats  are  rarely  seen,  for  they  feed  at  night,  but  I  have 
watched  them  by  moonlight,  and  they  hop  about  on 
their  hind  legs  like  some  mechanical  toy,  holding  their 
tiny  paws  together  across  their  chests,  as  if  they  did 
not  know  what  to  do  with  them.  They  are  southerly 
Rats,  enduring  great  heat,  and  they  make  large  lodges 
or  houses,  sometimes  two  and  three  feet  high,  among 
the  Spanish  Bayonet  plants  and  aloes,  which  serve  as 
hotels  to  several  families. 

"  The  Pocket  Mouse  also  belongs  to  the  south,  and 
is  an  inch  smaller  than  the  Kangaroo  Rat.  It,  too, 
has  a  long  tail,  long  back  legs,  and  outside  cheek 
pouches.  Its  coat  is  a  lighter  brown  than  that  of  the 
Deer  Mouse,  and  it  also  wears  a  white  vest. 

"  Last,  least,  but  most  interesting  of  all  is  the  Jump- 
ing Mouse,  with  brown  coat,  white  vest,  three  inches  of 
body,  and  five  inches  of  tail ;  and  surely  a  three-inch 
Mouse  who  can  jump  ten  feet  is  entitled  to  give  his 
name  to  a  family.  It  is  a  gentle  Mouse,  too,  and  does 
little  harm  to  the  farmer  in  the  northern  half  of  North 
America,  where  it  belongs,  being  content  with  seeds, 
the  softer  nuts,  and  berries.     It  stores  up  food  in  ground 


BATS  AND  MICE 


347 


Pocket  Mouse. 


burrows,  but  makes  its  nest  in  a  variety  of  places. 
Usually  it  is  a  careful,  well-lined  affair  only  a  few 
inches  underground,  but  frequently  it  creeps  into  a 
hollow  post  or  makes  its  home  in  the  chinks  of  a 
woodpile,  from  which  it  steals  toward  dusk  when  the 
Bats  come  out.  It  hibernates  in  the  most  thorough 
manner,  one  Wise  Man  believing  that  it  stays  in  longer 
than  that  sleepyhead,  the  Woodchuck.  It  usually 
goes  deep  into  the  ground  or  to  some  out-of-the-way 
corner  for  its  long  nap.  The  waking  hours  of  the 
Jumping  Mouse  are  the  most  interesting  to  us,  when 
it  moves  among  the  waving  hay  fields,  creeping  slowly 
on  its  uneven  legs,  filling  its  pockets  with  provisions, 
and  then,  suddenly  folding  its  arms,  takes  to  the  air. 
Bounding  along  without  seeming  to  touch  ground  after 
the  first  leap,  it  is  the  perfect  picture  of  free  motion." 


348 


FO UR- FOOTED  A MERICANS 


"  Oh,  the  trap  is  coming  open  and  the  mice  are  getting 
out!  Hold  Quick,  Nat,  do!"  screamed  Dodo.  There 
was  a  scuffle,  a  few  shrill  barks,  a  confused  spectacle  of 
Dodo  falling  over  the  trap,  Mr.  Wolf  tumbling  over 
Dodo  and  putting  his  heavy  paw  on  a  running  mouse, 
while  Quick  disappeared  under  the  Wolfskin  rug. 
When  Dodo  untangled  herself,  four  Meadow  Mice, 
killed  by  a  single  shake  each  from  Quick,  were  scat- 
tered about  the  camp,  while  Mr.  Wolf  still  held  his  prize 
under  his  paw. 

"  It's  my  fault,  I  know,  but  my  menagerie  is  all 
dead  !  "  quavered  Dodo. 

"Never  mind,"  said  the  Doctor;  "it  is  rather  soon, 
but  that  is  what  usually  happens  to  private  menageries." 


/ 


Jumping  Mousk, 


XXV 

MISCHIEF   MAKERS 

jRIDAY  will  be  Nat's  birthday,"  said 
Dodo  to  Olive  one  Thursday  after- 
noon, "and  uncle  says  we  can 
have  a  camp  party ;  but  the  vil- 
lage children  that  we  like,  mostly 
have  the  measles  now,  so  we  mustn't 
invite  them,  and  we  can't  have  a  party 
without  people  and  ice  cream." 
"But  you  can  have  a  party  without  House  People  ; 
a  sausage  party  is  great  fun,  with  dogs  for  the  com- 
pany. I  often  had  such  parties  when  I  was  little,  and 
I  should  enjoy  one  now,  I'm  sure." 

"  Oh,  how  lovely !  We  can  cook  the  sausages  our- 
selves, and  I  know  three  dogs  besides  our  own  that 
could  come,  and  Billy  Coon,  too,  if  we  are  careful  to 
keep  him  up  on  the  beams.  Dogs  are  simply  crazy 
about  sausages.  Ours  always  sniff  and  lick  their  lips 
whenever  Mammy  Bun  cooks  any.  I'll  go  and  invite 
Rod's  brother's  dogs  and  Rap's  little  terrier,  —  they  are 
acquainted  with  Quick  and  Mr.  Wolf,  so  there  won't  be 
any  fighting,  —  while  you  go  and  ask  Mammy  if  she  has 
plenty  of  sausages." 

So  this  is  how  Camp  Saturday  came  to  be  full  of  the 
smell  of  frying  one  Friday  evening,  and  the  reason,  also, 

349 


350  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

why  Quick  and  Mr.  Wolf  shared  their  rug  with  a  mon- 
grel terrier,  a  collie,  and  a  setter  pup,  —  six  pounds  of 
sausages,  divided  between  five  dogs  of  mixed  sizes  and 
a  coon,  having  produced  good  nature  and  a  desire  to  go 
to  sleep  in  Dogville. 

Rap  had  brought  his  Gray  Squirrel  as  a  gift  to  Nat, 
and  an  old  wheel  cage  having  been  found  in  the  attic, 
Frisk,  as  they  named  him,  was  safely  housed  in  it  and 
became  an  object  of  great  interest. 

"  He  is  ever  so  much  bigger  than  the  Red  Squirrels 
and  Chipmunks  we  have  here  at  the  farm,"  said  Nat, 
"  and  he  has  the  finest  tail  I  ever  saw." 

"  The  plumy  tail  is  an  important  feature  in  the  Squir- 
rel family.  Sciuridce,  the  name  the  Wise  Men  give  it, 
means  '  those  who  sit  in  the  shadow  of  the  tail,'  and 
you  can  see  when  Frisk  jerks  his  tail  over  his  back  that 
it  makes  quite  a  good  umbrella." 

"  Chipmunks  haven't  such  nice  tails,  though,"  said 
Rap ;  "  theirs  are  quite  thin  and  not  a  bit  plumy." 

"  They  belong  to  the  striped-backed  Ground  Squir- 
rels, who  are  of  a  lighter  build  in  every  way." 

"  Are  there  any  Ground  Squirrels  ?  I  thought  they  all 
lived  in  trees.  Do  Squirrels  gnaw  things,  and  are  they 
nuisance  animals  like  the  mice  and  rats  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"  The  Ground  Squirrels  are  all  more  or  less  mis- 
chievous, as  you  will  realize  when  you  remember  that 
in  climbing  the  ladder  to  look  for  the  Woodchuck  and 
Prairie  Dog  you  found  them  on  the  general  branch 
belonging  to  the  Ground  Squirrel  family." 

"  So  we  did,"  said  Olive ;  "  but  I  hardly  realized  that 
they  were  related  to  Squirrels  except  in  the  fact  that 
they  are  all  gnawers." 


MISCHIEF  MAKERS  351 

"Perhaps,  daughter,  you  will  write  the  list  on  the 
blackboard  for  us,  so  that  we  shall  see  the  connection 
more  plainly.  There  are  sixty  or  seventy  North  Ameri- 
can species  of  Tree  and  Ground  Squirrels,  but  if  I  tell 
you  of  seven  or  eight,  besides  the  Woodchuck  and 
Prairie  Dog,  which  you  already  know,  it  will  be  as 
much  as  you  can  remember." 

Tree  Squirrels. 

Medium -sized  ears.  Cheeks  with  inside  pouches  for  carrying- 
food.     Clawed  feet  suitable  for  climbing.     Plumy  tails. 

Here  belong,  beginning  with  the  smallest,  the  Flying,  Red, 
Gray,  and  Fox  Squirrels. 

Ground   Squirrels. 

Smaller,  with  cheek  pouches,  living  in  ground,  but  spending 
some  time  in  the  trees.  The  best  known  of  this  group  is  the  Chip- 
munk. 

Next  come  the  heavy,  ground  burrowers,  the  Prairie  Dog  and 
Woodchuck,  whom  certainly  nobody  would  ever  accuse  of  trying 
to  climb  trees,  and  then  follow  two  Spermophiles,  the  mischievous 
Ground  Squirrels  (so  called)  of  the  plains,  who  seem  to  bear  a 
resemblance  to  both  the  tree  and  ground  varieties,  some  having 
large  and  others  small  tails. 

"  You  know  something  about  our  Common  Squirrels, 
Rap ;  suppose  you  tell  us  what  you  have  noticed,"  said 
the  Doctor,  "  and  I  will  help  you  over  hard  places." 

"  I've  watched  Squirrels  a  good  deal,  but  I  shouldn't 
like  to  say  that  I  knotv  them,"  said  Rap,  hesitating ; 
"  for  when  you  think  you've  seen  all  their  ways,  you 
find  jrou've  only  just  begun.  There  are  plenty  of 
Squirrels  hereabout,  and  they  seem  to  live  in  a  great 
many  different  places.     The  Gra}r  Squirrels  and  the  Fly- 


352  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

ing  ones  seem  to  like  the  Miller's  far  woods  best,  where 
there  are  oaks,  hickories,  and  beech  trees,  but  the  Red 
Squirrels  live  farther  over  toward  our  house,  where  the 
trees  mostly  have  cones  and  berries  like  spruces  and 
cedars,  with  choke  cherries  and  hazel  bushes  growing 
along  the  stone  fences,  and  the  Chipmunks  live  right 
in  the  stone  fence  and  under  our  woodshed. 

"  I  think  the  Flying  Squirrel  is  the  prettiest  of  them 
all,"  continued  Rap,  pausing  as  if  he  did  not  know 
exactly  where  to  begin.  "  It  has  a  dear  little  face  with 
very  black  eyes  and  a  few  long  whiskers.  It  is  a  sort 
of  mousy  gray  on  top  and  white  underneath,  and  its 
paws  look  like  tiny  bits  of  hands,  with  the  tops  of  the 
fingers  swelled  out,  and  it  has  long  nails  that  are  cov- 
ered up  by  the  fur." 

"  Good !  "  exclaimed  the  Doctor  ;  "  how  did  you  see 
so  much  in  the  dark,  which  is  the  only  time  this  Squir- 
rel is  out  ?  " 

"  I  had  one  in  a  cage  last  winter ;  the  Miller's  boy 
gave  it  to  me.  It  grew  very  tame,  and  I  let  it  out  in  the 
spring  so  it  could  go  and  find  a  mate  and  not  be  lonely, 
but  it  came  back  to  the  house  last  summer  and  crawled 
in  my  window.  At  first  I  thought  it  was  a  bat  that  had 
flown  in,  and  then  I  saw  that  it  had  a  tail  and  no  wings." 

"  If  it  has  no  wings,  how  can  it  fly?  "  asked  Dodo. 

"  The  skin  of  its  back  reaches  down  on  its  legs,  the 
same  as  if  I  put  a  blanket  over  my  back  and  fastened  it 
to  my  wrists  and  ankles.  It  runs  up  to  the  top  of  a 
tree,  or  out  to  the  end  of  a  branch,  and  gives  a  big  jump 
down  or  across  to  another  tree.  It  doesn't  really  fly  or 
flap  its  arms  as  if  they  were  wings,  but  spreads  them  to 
keep  from  falling  and  catches  the  wind  like  a  flat  kite." 


Flying  Squirrels. 


MISCHIEF  MAKERS  353 

"  Why  doesn't  it  go  crooked  and  spin  around  ? " 
asked  Nat ;  "  a  kite  would  if  it  hadn't  a  string  to  hold 
it  and  a  long  tail." 

"  You  must  remember,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  that  a 
Squirrel  is  alive  and  springs  in  the  direction  he  wishes 
to  go ;  the  skin  flaps  help  him  to  remain  in  the  air,  and 
his  tail,  which  spreads  flatly  and  is  not  thick  like  other 
Squirrels',  both  balances  and  steers  him.  Olive,  dear, 
look  in  the  portfolio  and  give  me  the  picture  of  the 
Flying  Squirrel.  There,  now  you  can  see  at  a  glance 
how  he  goes  !  " 

"  Then  they  can  only  fly  down  or  across,  but  not  up," 
said  Olive. 

"  They  can  rise  very  slightly,  but  not  much  higher 
than  a  Gray  Squirrel  can  by  leaping.  Tell  us  what 
else  you  have  noticed  about  them,  Rap." 

"  The  first  time  I  ever  saw  them  was  three  years  ago 
in  spring.  The  Miller's  boy  said  there  was  a  hickory 
tree  with  a  hole  in  it,  back  of  their  pond,  where  a  lot  of 
long-tailed  Bats  lived.  He  was  looking  for  Wood- 
peckers' eggs  late  one  afternoon,  and  he  saw  the  hole 
but  he  couldn't  quite  reach  it,  so  he  knocked  on  the 
bark  to  see  if  a  bird  would  come  out,  and  instead  out 
popped  one  of  these  Squirrels,  but  the  light  seemed  to 
hurt  its  eyes  and  it  hurried  in  again. 

"A  couple  of  weeks  after,  when  the  moon  was  full, 
we  went  up  to  the  woods  about  Bat  time  and  climbed 
way  up  in  an  oak  tree  that  stood  close  to  the  hickory, 
and  waited  for  the  long-tailed  Bats  to  come  out. 

"  The  Nighthawks  were  out,  and  the  Whip-poor-wills 
and  a  couple  of  kinds  of  Bats  came  along  pretty  soon, 
and  we  saw  a  Skunk  sneaking  across  to  the  pond,  but 

2    A 


354  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

nothing  came  out  of  the  hole  in  the  hickory.  I  thought 
the  Miller's  boy  had  mistaken  the  tree,  when  all  of  a 
sudden  he  gave  me  a  pinch.  I  looked  over,  and  there 
were  the  things  coming  out  of  the  hole  and  running 
and  scrambling  up  the  tree  like  Mice.  I  knew  as  soon 
as  I  saw  them  they  were  some  kind  of  Squirrels,  but  I 
didn't  know  they  could  fly,  until  one  got  to  the  top  of 
the  tree  and  put  right  off  into  the  air  to  another  tree 
twenty  feet  away,  all  the  others  after  him  as  if  they 
were  playing,  for  there  were  a  couple  more  holes  fur- 
ther up  in  the  tree  that  we  didn't  see  at  first. 

"  We  couldn't  make  out  about  the  way  they  flew  that 
night,  so  we  kept  going  there  all  summer  and  up  to 
snow  time  we  found  out  a  good  many  things.  The 
Squirrels  didn't  mind  us  a  bit  after  they  saw  we 
wouldn't  touch  them.  They  had  sort  of  playhouse 
nests  made  of  leaves  and  stuff  up  in  the  tree  branches 
that  they  used  in  summer,  but  in  spring  when  the  little 
ones  are  born,  and  when  it  grows  cold  in  the  fall,  they 
stay  in  the  holes." 

"  Do  they  hi-ber-nate  ?  "  asked  Dodo,  who  was  taking 
great  pains  to  learn  the  word. 

"  I  don't  know  whether  they  sleep  all  the  time  in 
winter  like  Woodchucks,  but  they  pack  away  food, 
because  we  saw  them,  and  they  stay  in  their  holes  any- 
way. There's  another  real  cute  thing  they  do, —  the 
mothers  take  their  little  ones  and  fly  away  with  them 
if  they  are  frightened. 

"Last  June  one  of  the  oldest  Squirrel  trees  was 
partly  blown  over  against  another,  and  though  it  was 
day  time,  a  Squirrel  ran  out  of  her  home  with  a  good- 
sized  young  one  sort  of  tucked  up  between  her  arms 


MISCHIEF  MAKERS  355 

and  her  chin.  She  sailed  right  off  to  an  oak  tree  with 
it  and  went  back  to  get  another,  but  when  she  saw  that 
the  tree  was  jammed,  she  seemed  to  know  that  it  couldn't 
fall  any  further  and  so  she  went  over  and  brought  the 
young  one  back.  Do  you  know  she  held  it  and  steadied 
it  with  her  mouth,  and  it  had  its  arms  tight  round  her 
neck  as  if  it  were  a  real  child !  " 

"  I'm  going  up  to  see  them  next  spring,"  said  Nat. 
"  Are  they  good  or  bad  Squirrels,  and  what  do  they 
eat?" 

"  They  are  harmless  little  creatures,"  said  the  Doctor, 
"  and  trouble  the  farmer  very  little.  Their  chief  food, 
beside  nuts,  consists  of  seeds  of  various  kinds,  insects, 
beetles,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  a  few  birds'  eggs  and 
birds  that  their  night-prowling  habits  and  flying  leaps 
make  it  very  easy  for  them  to  take.  All  the  Tree 
Squirrels  do  some  harm,  if  there  are  too  many  about, 
as  well  as  their  ground  cousins,  but  the}''  are  so  jolly 
and  companionable,  adding  to  the  beauty  of  woods  and 
byways  and  the  pleasure  of  our  walks,  that  I  am  in- 
clined to  excuse  the  tribe  as  heedless  mischief  makers, 
rather  than  condemn  them  as  evil-doers." 

"  Red  Squirrels  are  pretty  bad  to  have  near  the  gar- 
den," said  Rap,  feelingly.  "  This  year  they  split  up  half 
of  our  seckel  pears  to  eat  the  seeds,  and  they  stole  lots 
of  the  red  pie-cherries  to  get  the  pits.  They  think  that 
cherry  stones  are  some  early  sort  of  nuts,  I  guess,  and 
half  of  July  they  sat  up  in  that  tree  twirling  them 
round  in  their  paws  while  they  gnawed  into  the  meat. 
I  wouldn't  mind  that  so  much,  but  they  suck  birds' 
eggs  and  bite  little  birds,  too,  when  they  feel  like  it. 
They  know  where  all  the  birds  live,  for  they  are  up 


356  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

and  down  every  tree.  They  can  watch  the  bush  nests 
when  they  cut  across  lots  on  the  fences  and  walls,  as 
they  do  all  the  time,  chattering  and  carrying  tales  about 
what  they  see. 

"A  pair  of  Red  Squirrels  made  a  nest  under  the  old 
shingles  in  our  woodshed.  The  little  ones  were  very 
funny  at  first,  with  very  big  heads  and  bare  skin,  and 
as  blind  as  kittens.  I  thought  that  these  were  day 
Squirrels,  but  this  pair  used  to  whisk  out  at  night 
sometimes,  and  didn't  they  chatter  and  scold  if  any  one 
went  near  the  nest !  Mother  said  they  were  good  com- 
pany for  her." 

"Why  do  you  call  them  Red  Squirrels,  uncle?"  asked 
Nat.  "  I  saw  the  pair  down  at  Rap's  house,  and  they 
had  bright  brown  coats  and  white  vests,  such  as  the 
Deer  Mouse  wears,  not  the  same  color  that  we  call  red 
in  birds  like  the  Tanager  and  Cardinal." 

"  It  is  a  careless  way  of  speaking,  Nat ;  there  are 
very  few  bright-colored  Mammals  anywhere  in  the 
world,  and  there  are  none,  belonging  on  our  tree,  who 
wear  gayer  coats  than  the  Ocelot  or  Red  Fox.  So  for 
lack  of  anything  brighter  we  call  this  Fox  red  when 
bright  bay  would  be  the  exact  term,  and  we  say  Red 
Squirrel  when  we  mean  rusty  brown.  However,  you 
may  call  this  happy-go-lucky  fellow  any  color  you 
please,  it  will  not  alter  his  disposition,  for  he  is  the 
most  interesting,  impertinent,  inquisitive,  and  talkative 
member  of  his  family.  In  spring  and  summer  he  is 
both  heard  and  seen,  leaping  from  stump  to  stump  in 
some  cleared  field,  exploring  old  logs,  and  rummaging 
in  the  brush  pile,  as  if  looking  up  storage  for  his  pilfer- 
ings,  squabbling  with  birds,  scolding  Chipmunks  that 


MISCHIEF  MAKERS  357 

come  too  near  his  home,  and  keeping  up  an  incessant 
chatter  from  morning  until  night.  Then,  as  soon  as  the 
seeds  are  formed  in  the  cones,  he  spends  his  days  in  the 
evergreen  trees  shelling  off  the  cone  scales  and  drop- 
ping the  cobs  to  the  ground,  packing  his  cheek  pockets 
full  of  seeds  to  carry  home,  or  else,  if  he  has  plenty  of 
time,  dropping  the  cones  to  the  ground,  and  carrying 
them  one  by  one  to  his  cupboard  to  shell  at  leisure. 

"  He  makes  his  home  in  a  great  many  places,  both 
above  and  below  ground,  but  prefers  a  nice  tree  hole 
for  winter,  with  its  crevices  well  stored  with  nuts  and 
seeds,  though  he  will  eat  almost  anything  he  can  find. 
He  does  not  hibernate,  but  merely  stays  indoors  dur- 
ing bitterly  cold  and  windy  weather.  If  it  is  snowy 
and  bright,  you  will  often  see  his  footprints  in  the 
vicinity  of  one  of  his  storehouses.  If  his  provisions 
fail,  he  gets  into  mischief  by  pruning  trees  of  their 
biggest  buds,  or  making  excursions  to  the  woods  and 
meddling  with  the  bait  in  traps  set  for  better  game  ;  for 
though  the  Red  Squirrel  has  sweet  meat,  he  is  rather 
small  to  be  classed  with  food  animals.  That  doubtful 
honor  belongs  to  his  big  brothers,  the  Gray  and  Fox 
Squirrels.  Cheerful  as  he  is,  he  is  not  without  troubles 
of  his  own.  Hawks  and  Owls  will  pounce  upon  him, 
and  many  annoying  insects  insist  upon  living  in  his 
furry  coat.  These  parasites,  as  they  are  called,  abound 
on  all  'nuisance  animals,'  and  seem  to  be  one  of  Nat- 
ure's ways  of  keeping  them  from  overrunning  the  earth. 

"  There  is  no  need  of  describing  the  Gray  Squirrel,  for 
you  have  one  to  look  at  to  your  hearts'  content.  See  ! 
he  has  eaten  all  the  nuts  he  wishes  and  is  trying  to  bury 
that  last  one  in  the  sand  in  the  bottom  of  the  cag-e." 


358  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  He  uses  his  paws  like  hands,"  cried  Dodo.  "  See 
how  he  pats  and  scratches  to  cover  the  nut,  and  curls 
his  tail  over  his  back.  Now  he  has  gone  in  the  wheel 
for  a  race.  He  is  ever  so  tame  ;  how  long  have  you  had 
him,  Rap  ?  " 

"  Only  about  a  week.  Gray  Squirrels  grow  tame  veiy 
quick,  but  you  must  be  careful  they  don't  bite  you. 
One  nipped  my  hand  almost  through,  a  couple  of  years 
ago,  when  I  put  it  into  his  nest." 

"  Then  they  live  in  holes,  too,"  said  Nat ;  "  they  must 
need  quite  big  ones." 

"  Yes,  and  they  build  great  wide  tree  nests,  too,  for  I 
climbed  up  to  what  I  thought  was  a  Crow's  nest  one 
year,  and  it  had  four  queer  little  blind  Squirrels  in  it. 
They  took  ever  so  long  to  grow,  nearly  three  months, 
and  after  that  I  used  to  see  the  old  ones  sleeping  in  the 
nest  in  daytime.  They  seem  to  go  out  most  morning 
and  night." 

"Do  they  sleep  in  winter?"  asked  Dodo. 

"  I'm  not  sure,"  said  Rap  ;  "  sometimes  I've  seen  them 
in  the  winter  and  sometimes  I  have  not." 

"  It  depends  upon  the  weather,"  said  the  Doctor. 
"  The  Gray  Squirrel  does  not  really  hibernate,  but  stays 
curled  up  in  bad  weather  like  the  Red  Squirrel,  just  as 
in  very  cold  places  he  nests  in  a  hole ;  in  a  medium 
climate  he  uses  either  a  hole  or  tree  nest,  and  further 
south  usually  a  tree  nest.  One  remarkable  thing  about 
him  is  that  instead  of  storing  his  food  in  piles,  or  filling 
rock  or  tree  hollows,  he  makes  a  separate  cache  for  each 
nut,  and  exactly  how  he  finds  the  place  again,  the  very 
wisest  of  Wise  Men  is  not  sure.  Some  say  it  is  by  a 
keen  sense  of  smell,  others  a  good  memory.     For  myself, 


The  Gray  Squirrel. 


MISCHIEF  MAKERS  359 

I  think  it  would  be  easier  to  remember  where  a  nut  was 
buried  than  to  smell  it  through  several  inches  of  snow 
and  frozen  ground." 

"  Oli  dear !  "  sighed  Dodo,  "  if  he  has  such  a  smeller 
as  that,  how  he  must  choke  when  he  lives  in  a  wood 
where  there  are  Skunks." 

"  One  thing  more  about  this  popular  Squirrel,  who 
with  us,  as  you  see,  wears  a  light  gray  winter  coat  tinged 
with  brown.  Further  north  he  sometimes  appears  with- 
out rhyme  or  reason  in  a  fine  black  coat,  just  as  the 
Screech  Owl  is  sometimes  gray  and  sometimes  red  —  a 
Dichromatic  Phase  is  what  the  Wise  Men  call  this. 

"If  the  Gray  Squirrel  changes  his  hue  according  to 
where  he  lives,  his  cousin  the  great  Fox  Squirrel  out- 
does even  the  Varying  Hare.  I  will  show  you  some 
colored  pictures  of  him  in  my  Audubon  and  Bachman's 
Quadrupeds,  that  I  sent  for  to  town  last  week. 

"  See,  one  is  black  with  white  nose  and  ears,  one  is 
gray  with  yellowish  legs,  and  a  third  is  yellowish  brown 
with  white  ears,  nose,  and  a  dark  face.  The  commonest 
coat  worn,  and  the  one  most  often  seen,  is  dappled  gray, 
with  the  nose,  ears,  feet,  and  under-parts  whitish.  One 
thing  you  can  be  sure  of,  no  matter  what  this  Squirrel's 
coloring  may  be,  he  is  very  large  (less  than  two  inches 
shorter  than  a  Woodchuck),  has  a  long  tail,  and  white 
ears  and  nose.  He  is  found  in  some  one  of  his  many 
coats  in  most  parts  of  the  United  States,  where  he  can 
find  high  ground  and  tall  pine  trees.  He  likes  cones  and 
has  his  home  nest  and  nursery  in  a  tree  hole,  though  he 
usually  makes  an  outdoor  nest  which  he  uses  as  a  summer 
house.  If  you  happen  to  be  near  where  the  Fox  Squir- 
rels live,  you  will  surely  see  or  hear  them,  for  they  come 


360 


FOUli-FOOTED  AMERICANS 


out  by  day  and  have  a  loud,  barking  cry.  As  a  rule, 
they  take  life  easily,  making  their  homes  in  colonies 
near  grain  fields  and  managing  to  do  the  farmers  a  great 
deal  of  damage.  But  as  many  of  these  Squirrels  are 
shot  for  food,  the  farmer  gets  some  of  his  grain  back  in 
the  shape  of  Squirrel  meat. 


Chipmunk. 


"  Now  let  us  spend  five  minutes  on  the  ground  with 
the  Chipmunk  and  his  kin.  You  all  know  the  Chip- 
munk as  well  as  you  do  the  Chipping  Sparrow,  even 
if  you  had  not  his  picture  before  you." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  know  him  just  as  well  as  I  do  a  Robin," 
said  Dodo.  "  He's  the  Squirrel  that  has  a  hole  under 
one  of  the  spruces  where  the  hammock  is  hung,  and 
stays  mostly  on  the  ground,  but  runs  up  trees  for  cones 
and  to  peep  in  nests,  too,  sometimes.     He's  little  and 


MISCHIEF  MAKERS  361 

jerky;  his  coat  is  brown  and  yellow,  with  black  and  light 
stripes  running  the  long  way  of  him.  His  tail  is  rather 
thin,  and  I  know  he's  got  cheek  pockets,  because  I've 
seen  them  puffed  out  so  full  he  couldn't  speak,  and  that 
one  by  the  hammock  is  as  friendly  as  a  Catbird." 

"  Good  !  "  cried  the  Doctor,  while  the  others  clapped 
their  hands.  "  You  have  given  us  an  excellent  snap- 
shot picture  of  his  Munkship.  If  you  could  look  into 
that  hole  under  the  spruce,  you  would  see  that  there  are 
many  little  passages  and  storerooms  running  this  way 
and  that,  from  the  bedroom  where  the  Chipmunk  is 
probably  sleeping  soundly  at  this  moment.  They  have 
thin  fur,  like  the  Flying  Squirrel,  and  dread  the  cold  so 
much  that  they  hole  up  early  and  never  even  peep  out 
until  March  ;  so  if  you  ever  see  a  small  Squirrel  frisking 
over  the  snow,  you  will  know  that  it  is  a  Red  Squirrel 
and  not  a  Chipmunk,  without  looking  for  his  stripes. 
They  also  cache  food  in  different  places,  like  the  Gray 
Squirrel,  and  nest  often  in  old  stumps  or  under  stone 
fences.  They  eat  all  sorts  of  seeds,  from  weed  seeds  to 
cherry  pits,  some  insects,  and  they  also,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  suck  birds'  eggs. 

"  Only  this  summer,  Dodo,  I  saw  your  pet  sitting 
near  the  hammock  holding  a  Robin's  egg  carefully  in 
his  hands,  while  he  was  slowly  sucking  egg-nog  out  of 
its  beautifully  tinted  cup.  A  book,  and  a  big  one  at 
that,  could  be  written  about  the  Chipmunk's  interesting 
ways,  but  we  must  leave  him  to  glance  at  the  pictures 
of  two  of  his  vagabond  kin,  of  the  Spermophile  branch 
of  the  house,  that  bother  the  farmers  of  the  plains  and 
prairies,  one  even  scrambling  among  the  ledges  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains. 


362 


FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 


"  Spermophile  means  seed  lover,  and  these  little  beasts 
eat  seeds  of  every  description,  and  are  cannibals  to  boot. 
I  have  merely  a  bowing  acquaintance  with  them,  but 
the  Chief  of  the  Wise  Animal  Men  at  Washington 
says :  '  Scarcely  a  seed  or  grain  grows  where  they  live 
that  is  not  eaten  by  them  .  .  .  wheat,  oats,  barley, 
rye,  corn,  etc.  .  .  .  But  their  food  is  by  no  means 
restricted  to  seeds,  for  they  are  fond  of  fruits,  roots, 
and  insects  .  .  .  eat  lizards,  mice,  or  any  kind  of  fresh 
meat.  ...  If  one  of  their  own  species  is  found  dead, 
it  is  promptly  eaten,  thus  proving  that  the}"  are  canni- 
bals. .  .  .'  They  do  eat  harmful  insects  also,  but  not 
enough  to  pay  for  the  crops  of  corn  and  grain,  which 
they  commence  to  devour  as  soon  as  the  seed  is  planted. 
And  they  keep  on,  with  the  ear  in  the  milk  and  the  ripe 


Striped  SpermophIle. 


MISCHIEF  MAKERS  363 

grain,  cutting  and  gnawing  the  season  through.  The 
Spermophiles,  therefore,  are  on  the  farmer's  misery  list 
with  the  Gophers,  and  the  owners  of  wheat  fields,  at 
least,  are  beginning  to  think  the  hungry  Coyote  a  rather 
clever  dog  after  all. 

"  The  best  known  of  these  ground  burrowers  of  the 
plains,  that  reach  east  of  the  Rockies  from  the  Sas- 
katchewan country  down  to  Texas,  is  the  pretty  Striped 
Spermophile.  He  is  an  inch  or  so  longer  than  a  Chip- 
munk, lightly  built  and  slender ;  his  coat  is  striped  with 
light  brown  bands,  alternating  with  dark,  light  spotted 
bands,  the  whole  coat  being  as  exquisite  and  even  as 
a  woven  fabric ;  yet  he  is  a  perfect  nuisance,  disliking 
woodlands,  but  appearing  as  soon  as  the  trees  are  cleared, 
and  never  venturing  far  up  mountain  sides. 

"His  big  brother,  the  gray  mottled  Rock  or  Line- 
tailed  Spermophile,  begins  his  range  where  the  striped 
one  halts,  burrows  among  the  loose  rocks  on  the  sides 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains  themselves,  and  is  the  com- 
monest Mammal  of  the  pinon  belts.  Here,  being  out 
of  the  wheat  centre,  he  turns  his  attention  to  robbing 
hens'  nests,  and  has  a  bad  reputation." 

"  What  is  a  pinon  belt  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"  Pihons  are  the  western  nut-bearing  pines,  and  of 
course  the  Ground  Squirrels  like  to  live  near  them." 

"  Why  couldn't  they  train  terriers  to  catch  these 
Spermophiles  ?  "  asked  Olive. 

"  They  have  a  trick  that  dogs  do  not  like,"  said  the 
Doctor.  "  They  let  a  dog  or  other  animal  come  quite 
close,  and  then  turn  round  and  kick  up  the  dust  so 
rapidly  that  the  poor  beast  is  both  blinded  and  choked. 
So  much  for  the  Mischief  Makers  !  " 


364 


FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 


"  Oh,  look  at  Mr.  Wolf  and  listen  to  Rod's  puppy," 
whispered  Nat ;  "  they've  had  too  much  sausage  party ! 
The  puppy  is  crying  as  if  he  was  afraid,  and  Wolf's  hair 
is  all  ridged  up  and  he's  growling !  " 

"I  think  he  must  be  dreaming  that  the  butcher's 
Newfoundland  dog  is  walking  on  his  side  of  the  road, 
and  he  never  allows  that,  you  know !  "  said  Olive. 


Rock  Spermophile. 


XXVI 


THE   BEAVER'S   STORY 
(as  told  by  himself) 

JE AVERS  are  strangely  wise  animals," 
said  Dr.  Roy,  the  evening  that  Nat 
chose    a    Beaver   picture,   "  and   the 
best  way  to  give  you  a  glimpse  of 
their  habits  and  homes  will  be  to  read 
you  a  Beaver's  story  of  himself." 
So  saying  the  Doctor  took  some 
sheets  of   paper  from   the    table 
and  asked  Nat  to  bring  a  lamp, 
for  they  usually  listened  to  the 
stories  by  the  fire-light  alone. 

"  Who  wrote  this  story  ?  "  asked  Dodo,  "  for  of  course 
a  Beaver  can't  write,  at  least,  I  mean,  in  our  lan- 
guage," for  she  had  come  to  believe  that  animals  can 
do  almost  everything.  "  Is  it  your  writing,  Uncle  Roy, 
or  is  it  daddy's  ?  " 

"  Come  and  see  for  yourself." 

"  It  is  nobody's  writing ;  it  is  printed  with  a  type- 
writing machine,"  said  Olive.  "I  suppose  Olaf  would 
say  that  the  Dream  Fox  did  it." 

"  No  questions  answered,"  laughed  the  Doctor.  "  No 
matter  how  the  story  found  its  way  into  words,  or  if  it 
sounds  like  a  fairy  tale,  I  can  promise  that  every  word 

365 


366  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

of  it  is  true.     If  you  doubt  it,  you  may  ask  the  very 
-,,  first  Wise  Man  you  meet. 

(A  Beaver  leaves  his  Work  to  chat  a  Few  Moments  in 
the  Moonlight) 

"'I  am  a  fourfoot  of  a  very  ancient  family  and  one 
of  the  oldest  of  Mammals.  Land  and  water  both 
desired  to  own  me,  so  Nature  planned  me  to  be  shared 
by  both,  giving  me  the  fore  paws  of  a  land  animal  and 
the  strong  webbed  hind  feet  of  a  swimmer. 

" '  As  I  sit  on  this  low  bank  and  look  at  my  reflection 
in  the  pond,  it  seems  to  me  that,  though  I  am  a  decidedly 
remarkable  and  intelligent  beast,  I  am  very  plain,  or, 
an  ill-natured  person  might  sa}^  ugly  in  appearance. 
My  body  is  about  three  feet  long  from  my  nose  to  the 
beginning  of  my  tail.  I  slope  fore  and  aft,  humping 
up  in  the  middle  like  a  haystack.  My  long  claws  are 
of  the  pattern  given  to  burrowers,  from  the  Badger  to 
the  Gopher,  and  my  four  gnawing  teeth,  of  a  strange 
design,  are  curved  and  powerful,  the  lower  two  being 
five  and  the  upper  pair  four  inches  long.  Yet  they  are 
set  so  deeply  in  the  jaw  that  little  more  than  an  inch 
of  them  is  seen,  like  tools  that  are  braced  deeply  in 
their  handles  to  give  extra  strength.  The  outside  of 
these  teeth  is  of  a  stronger  texture  than  the  inside, 
which  causes  them  to  wear  down  toward  the  back, 
giving  them  the  cutting  edge  of  a  keen  chisel. 

"'Look  at  my  tail!  It  is  nine  inches  long,  and  in 
the  middle  half  as  wide  as  its  length ;  it  is  a  flat,  scaly 
paddle,  in  fact.  You  shall  see  how  it  serves  me  as  a 
rudder,  a  danger  signal,  and  a  mason's  trowel. 

"  '  The  color  of  my  fur  coat  is  usually  reddish  brown, 


Beavers  at  Work. 


THE  BEAVER'S  STORY  367 

tinged  variously  with  yellow  and  sometimes  veiled  with 
black.  My  under-fur  is  all  plain  brown,  about  half  an 
inch  long  and  soft  as  a  Seal's.  It  was  this  fur  that  led 
my  race  into  trouble,  and  caused  us  to  be  so  popular 
with  trappers  that  we  were  killed  out  from  about  the 
rivers  and  ponds  where  House  Children  might  have 
seen  our  lodges  and  runways  as  freely  as  they  do  those 
of  the  Muskrat.  Our  soft,  even  fur  made  fine  Beaver 
hats ;  our  pelts  were  strong  and  elastic  —  they  made 
good  gloves ;  our  tails  were  layered  with  fat  —  they 
made  good  eating  for  the  Indians.  Once  we  were  so 
important  that  the  great  Fur  Company  of  Hudson's 
Bay  stamped  our  name  upon  a  coin  for  a  sign  of  value, 
"1  Made  Beaver." 

" '  So  we  were  trapped  in  and  out  of  season,  cruelly 
and  wastefully,  young  and  old  together,  until  we  are  but 
a  small  tribe,  and  in  all  this  wide  country  we  inhabit 
but  a  few  solitary  spots,  and  so  you  do  not  know  us. 

" '  I  am  a  wonder  to  the  Wise  Men,  and  there  are 
many  things  about  me  that  they  cannot  understand. 
According  to  their  ways  of  measuring  and  judging,  I 
am  low  among  the  Mammals.  They  find  that  I  have  a 
small  heart  and  lungs,  that  I  breathe  slowly,  have  no 
skill  as  a  hunter,  and  prefer  to  live  on  harsh  vegetable 
food,  such  as  the  bark  of  soft-wooded  trees.  They  look 
at  my  teeth  and  put  me  in  the  tribe  of  gnawers,  —  the 
family  of  Rats,  Mice,  and  other  nuisance  animals.  But 
when  they  come  to  watch  me  at  my  work,  and  see  that  I 
am  a  wood-chopper,  architect,  engineer,  and  mason,  they 
are  indeed  puzzled,  for  they  say :  "  A  Beaver  has  a  small, 
smooth  brain ;  people  who  think  have  wrinkled  brains. 
How  comes  this,  for  a  Beaver  thinks  and  plans  ?  "     Then 


368  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

the  Wise  Men  confess  that  I  am  the  most  interesting 
animal  on  the  whole  Mammal  tree  (except  man  himself), 
and  that  they  really  know  very  little  about  me.  The 
Indian,  who  knows  all  our  ways,  holds  us  more  highly, 
weaving  many  stories  about  us,  welcoming  us  as  pets  in 
the  lodges,  and  loving  us  as  House  People  love  their 
dogs. 

"  'Now  you  know  how  I  look.  I  will  tell  you  how 
and  where  I  live,  beginning  with  the  springtime,  in 
May,  when  every  industrious  pair  of  Beavers  who  own 
a  home  burrow  and  a  woodpile,  have,  maybe  two,  or 
maybe  half  a  dozen  little  Beavers  in  their  house.  As 
you  know,  we  live  about  ponds  and  watercourses,  and 
our  summer  homes  are  made  in  this  fashion  :  Finding  a 
good  bank  of  clay  or  loam,  by  a  favorite  stream,  we  look 
for  a  place  where  the  soil  is  braced  by  tree  roots.  Then 
we  dive  and  begin  a  burrow  under  the  water,  going  up 
into  the  bank,  cutting  through  roots,  and  rolling  out 
stones,  until  we  have  made  two  chambers,  —  an  outer  one 
for  food,  and  an  inner  one  above  the  water  level  for  a 
living  room,  with  a  place  for  air  to  come  in  at  the  top 
among  the  tree  roots.  You  may  wonder  why  our  door- 
way is  always  under  water.  It  is  so  that  we  may  swim 
out  and  not  rise  to  the  surface  near  our  home,  showing 
enemies  where  we  live.  Does  not  the  Ovenbird  slip 
from  her  nest,  and,  running  through  the  underbrush, 
make  her  flight  at  a  distance,  for  the  same  reason  ? 

"  '  A  few  weeks  after  our  young  are  born  they  begin 
to  gnaw  soft  bark,  and  then  they  soon  join  us  in  our 
wood-cutting  excursions.  The  trees  we  love  best  for 
food  are  those  with  juicy  bark,  like  the  3'ellow  birch, 
cotton-wood,  poplar,  and  willow.     If  we  are  very  hungry, 


THE  beaver's  story  369 

we  can  eat  walnut,  ash,  and  the  harder  maples  ;  but  Ave 
do  not  relish  them,  and  we  sometimes  use  lily  roots  and 
grass  for  salad.  It  would  be  wasteful  merely  to  gnaw 
the  bark  around  the  trunks  of  trees,  besides  this  is  not 
as  tender  as  the  bark  covering  the  branches ;  so,  as  we 
may  not  climb,  nothing  is  left  us  but  to  fell  the  trees. 
Then  we  select  a  tree  a  foot  or  more  in  thickness,  and 
begin  our  cutting  from  each  side,  upward  and  down- 
ward, our  teeth  making  short,  chisel-like  grooves,  hew- 
ing out  wide  chips.  When  the  tree  falls  we  run,  and, 
diving,  swim  to  our  burrows  lest  some  enemy  should 
hear  the  noise  and  catch  us  at  our  work. 

" '  When  all  is  quiet,  we  come  out  again,  and  like 
good  craftsmen  begin  to  chop  our  wood  in  lengths  to 
carry  home.  We  cut  our  fagots,  measuring  by  their 
weight  instead  of  length,  so  that  a  thick  limb  will  be 
chopped  in  strips  a  foot  in  length,  a  thinner  one  two 
feet  long,  and  so  on,  for  we  know  how  much  a  Beaver 
may  carry  easily.  The  wood  is  then  taken  to  the  store- 
house of  the  burrow.  The  thick  pieces  we  roll  along 
down  the  bank  perhaps,  holding  them  between  paws 
and  chin  in  swimming,  which  we  do  easily,  using  our 
tails  as  rudders  to  guide  us  with  our  load.  The  smaller 
twigs  we  hold  in  our  mouths,  the  ends  trailing  over  our 
shoulders  to  the  ground.  If  any  logs  are  hard  to  move, 
we  often  use  our  tails  as  levers  to  pry  them  along,  and 
our  tails  also  help  us  to  lift  up  in  our  arms  the  great 
stones,  which  we  often  have  to  move  in  building. 

" '  When  the  right  trees  are  near  our  water  homes, 
all  goes  well,  but  sometimes  the  near  woods  are  all 
eaten  or  otherwise  destroyed.  The  water  from  the 
ponds  often  runs  back  and  floods  the  lowlands  where 

2    B 


370  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

we  have  cut  down  all  the  trees,  making  it  so  wet  that 
no  more  trees  will  grow;  and  rich,  tall  grass  springs  up, 
covering  the  decayed  stumps.  House  People  call  these 
places  Beaver  Meadows.  We  do  not  like  the  wood  of 
evergreens,  and  so  often  we  have  to  search  far  away 
from  water  for  our  food,  and  after  the  trees  are  cut, 
they  must  be  carried  a  weary  distance  home.  We  have 
two  ways  of  doing  this :  one  is  to  make  a  straight  path- 
way by  felling  everything  that  would  interfere  with  us; 
the  other  is  to  dig  a  canal  between  ponds  or  streams 
and,  letting  in  water,  float  our  wood  home,  as  House 
People  float  their  logs  from  lumber  camps  to  sawmills. 

" '  Having  made  our  canal,  three  feet  wide  and  as 
many  deep,  we  must  arrange  to  keep  the  water  deep 
enough  for  our  work.  Deep  water  is  a  "  must  be  "  in 
the  Beaver  world,  whether  in  canals  or  in  the  ponds 
and  rivers.  The  water  must  be  high  enough  to  cover 
the  doorway  of  the  burrows. 

"  '  Next  comes  our  work  as  engineers,  for  we  have  to 
build  dams  to  keep  the  water  back  and  make  it  stand 
at  the  exact  depth  we  wish. 

" '  House  People  have  all  seen  the  dams  that  keep 
the  water  in  their  mill  ponds ;  but  we  build  longer, 
better  ones  than  theirs,  sometimes  perhaps  they  may  be 
only  a  few  feet  in  length,  but  at  others  many  hundred. 
Often  we  begin  by  interlacing  growing  bushes  with 
sticks,  filling  the  gaps  with  stones  and  mud  on  the  water 
side,  then  adding  sticks  from  time  to  time  below,  until 
we  have  made  our  barrier  strong  enough.  At  other 
times  we  build  over  fallen  trees,  and  raise  a  dam  from 
them  of  almost  solid  mud,  strengthened  with  tree  boughs. 
We  are  never  wasteful,  and  seldom  use  fresh  wood  for 


THE  BEAVER' '8   STORY  371 

this  work,  but  save  the  sticks  from  which  the  bark  has 
all  been  gnawed  for  all  our  building.  Another  thing 
we  do,  —  we  curve  our  dams  up  stream.  Do  you  know 
why?  If  you  were  trying  to  push  something,  or  some 
one  back,  would  you  stand  straight  up,  or  would  you 
bend  forward  to  meet  the  strain,  and  thus  gain  added 
strength?  You  would  bend,  of  course,  and  so  we  bend 
our  dams  to  push  the  waters  back.  We  may  be  stupid 
and  clumsy  and  ranked  with  Rabbits  and  Rats ;  our  eyes 
and  brains  may  be  small,  but  you  must  see  by  this  that 
we  are  rather  clever  at  thinking. 

" '  All  summer  we  feed  and  work  and  play,  making  and 
repairing  dams  and  felling  our  wood  by  night,  but  some- 
times stopping  to  be  idle,  and  rolling  and  basking  in  the 
sunlight.  We  are  ever  on  the  watch,  however,  even  in 
play  time,  our  keen  ears  catching  the  faintest  sound  of 
warning,  and  our  alarm  signal  is  far  reaching.  Our 
sentry  has  but  to  dive,  bringing  his  flat  tail  with  a 
quick,  sharp  blow  upon  the  water,  and  the  noise  is 
echoed  far  and  wide.  Spat !  spat !  spat !  go  the  tails 
of  all  the  Beavers  in  the  region  as  they  disappear. 
Even  when  we  lie  sunning  ourselves,  we  are  on  the 
alert,  for  it  is  Beaver  law  that  when  at  rest  every  pair 
must  lie  facing  each  other  so  that,  one  looking  each 
way,  nothing  may  steal  up  unawares,  and  if  we  are 
suspicious  even,  we  rise  up  on  our  haunches  and  listen 
to  catch  every  breath. 

"'In  September  the  serious  task  of  cutting  winter 
wood  begins.  We  do  not  sleep  the  winter  sleep,  so 
we  need  food  in  plenty  and  better  shelter  than  our 
bank  burrows,  for  we  live  in  places  where  ice  and  snow 
have  a  long  season.     Once  in  the  far  back,  perhaps,  the 


372  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

climate  was  not  so  cold,  but  the  Wise  Men  say  that  we 
American  Beavers  have  been  building  dams  and  winter 
lodges  for  thousands  of  years,  and  they  can  prove  their 
words  by  digging  and  showing  you  our  ancient  earth- 
works. How  we  came  to  need  our  island  lodges  is  a 
legend  in  our  family,  but  one  that  Heart  of  Nature  will 
not  yet  let  us  tell,  lest  no  one  should  believe  it. 

"  '  Each  Beaver  family  has  its  own  lodge,  for  though 
we  are  sociable  we  do  not  approve  of  hotel  life,  and  at 
most,  several  families  may  have  lodges  in  the  same 
pond.  We  Beavers  know  the  places  where  warm 
springs,  deep  from  the  earth,  feed  the  ponds,  and  near 
these  spots  we  make  our  buildings.  Starting  from  some 
sunken  island,  we  begin  our  heap  of  sticks,  building  a 
thick  mud  and  wicker  wall  and  arching  poles  to  support 
the  roof  of  a  living  room,  which  is  some  half  dozen  feet 
across  and  well  above  the  water  line.  This  lodge  has 
two  entrances  below  water,  —  one  for  the  family  and 
one  for  food  wood. 

" '  Before  ice  and  snow  stop  our  tree-cutting  excur- 
sions, every  Beaver  household  moves  into  its  lodge  and 
has  a  sunken  woodpile  close  at  hand,  from  which  the 
daily  provisions  can  be  taken  by  swimming  under  the 
ice.  We  Beavers  can  swim  a  half  mile  under  water 
without  rising  through  the  breathing  holes.  You  may 
wonder  why,  in  the  cold  countries  where  we  live,  the 
ponds  and  rivers  do  not  freeze  to  the  bottom,  or  sudden 
thaws  drown  us  out.  In  the  first  place,  we  make  our 
dams  the  right  height  to  give  us  the  exact  depth  of 
water  we  need,  and  nature  guides  us  where  to  build  near 
the  warm  spring  holes  that  keep  the  ice  thin,  and  the 
heavy  snows  also  helping  us  by  shutting  out  the  cold. 


THE  BEAVER'S   STORY  373 

Then,  if  we  see  a  freshet  coming,  we  make  a  gap  in  the 
dam  to  let  the  water  off,  or  if  it  rises  too  quickly,  as 
sometimes  in  early  spring,  we  swim  for  refuge  to  our 
summer  bank  burrows.  Sometimes  our  woodpile  grows 
water-soaked  and  sour,  and  we  are  glad  when  a  thaw 
lets  us  cut  down  a  fresh  supply  ;  but  usually  our  win- 
ter life  is  happy  and  comfortable,  for  here  in  this  spot 
no  trappers  may  come  to  harry  us  from  our  homes. 

" '  Our  children  stay  with  us  until  they  are  two  years 
old,  so  each  lodge  harbors,  besides  the  parents,  the  eight 
or  ten  children  of  two  seasons.  We  are  affectionate 
among  ourselves,  but  are  bound  to  keep  Beaver  law, 
which  says  that  the  young  of  every  lodge,  when  fully 
grown,  shall  go  out,  find  mates,  and  build  lodges  for 
themselves.  Also,  that  they  shall  always  go  further 
down  stream  than  their  old  homes.  Down  stream 
means  the  building  of  new  dams  and  extra  labor,  which 
is  most  suitable  for  those  with  strong  young  teeth. 
The  older  Beavers,  when  they  need  new  lodges,  may 
go  up  stream  to  easy  cpiarters ;  for  as  a  Beaver  grows 
old,  and  toward  the  end  of  his  fifteen  years  of  life,  his 
teeth  are  dulled,  and  he  cannot  cut  wood  so  easily  for 
house  and  dam  building.  Beaver  law  despises  laziness 
and  says  no  Beaver  shall  steal  from  another  Beaver's 
woodpile,  and  the  penalty  for  such  a  theft  is  death  ! 
The  Indians  know  these  laws  and  how  well  we  keep 
them.  Often  in  a  long  cold  winter,  when  all  our  bark 
is  eaten,  we  gnaw  up  the  hard  wood  itself  for  food,  or 
pinch  and  starve  rather  than  break  the  law. 

" '  Each  pair  of  Beavers  are  rulers  in  their  lodge, 
building  and  repairing  their  own  dams  unaided  except 
by  members  of  their  families ;  for  sociable  as  we  are,  we 


374  FOUR-FOOTED  AMEBIC  AN  S 

neither  live  nor  work  in  colonies.  If  our  young  do  not 
choose  mates  the  first  season  that  they  leave  us,  they 
may  come  home  that  winter,  but  not  again.  Afterwards 
they  must  join  the  wanderers  and  those  Beavers  who, 
having  lost  their  mates,  refuse  to  take  another.  Thus  our 
lives  go  on,  —  hewing,  storing,  planning,  building,  and 
repairing,  unless  trappers  break  up  our  peaceful  homes. 

"  '  I  who  tell  this  story  live  on  Lost  Creek,  which  runs 
through  protected  land,  where  no  trap  may  take  me,  and 
I  am  fat,  happy,  and  content.  I  have  a  mate  who  is  a 
clever  tree  chopper,  and  we  are  now  building,  raising 
our  dam  a  foot  or  so,  and  mending  places  where  our  mis- 
chievous cousins  the  Muskrats  have  poked  holes ;  some- 
times they  even  try  to  share  our  lodges  with  us,  like  the 
impudent  rats  they  are.  We  must  deepen  the  water 
around  a  new  lodge  that  we  shall  finish  to-morrow ;  its 
roof  poles  are  of  poplars  from  the  nearby  bank,  the  sides 
are  braced  by  willow  and  poplar  basketwork,  and  I  have 
beaten  the  mud  covering  hard  and  smooth  with  my  flat 
tail.  Our  lodge  has  a  broad  entrance  for  wood  also,  where 
the  cuttings  will  not  stick  when  carried  in,  and  a  large 
dry  room  for  my  family  of  nine  young  and  half-grown 
Beavers  who  helped  me  with  the  work,  thus  learning 
how  to  hew  and  build  the  lodges  some  of  them  will  have 
to  make  for  themselves  next  season. 

" '  Yet  in  spite  of  all  this  work  of  mine,  the  Wise  Men 
say,  and  think  they  prove  it  by  my  body,  that  I  am  but 
a  slow,  lowly  Mammal,  no  huntsman,  and  a  cousin  of 
Rabbits  and  Rats,  with  a  small  smooth  brain  that  has  no 
business  to  think  and  plan.  I  prove  bj-  my  own  works 
that  I  have  both  thought  and  judgment,  and  I  wish  that 
you  could  visit  me  and  see  my  work  yourself. 


THE  beaver's  story  375 

"  '  Hist !  the  alarm  beat  comes  down  river  !  Beaver 
law  says  dive  and  strike  water  with  your  tail  in  going; 
so  travels  the  signal  through  the  moonlight.  I  hear  a 
crashing  in  the  brushwood  —  now  my  turn  comes!  A 
good  evening  to  you  ! '     (The  Beaver  dives.) 

"  Splash  !  not  a  Beaver  within  sight.  The  September 
moon  shows  heaps  of  sticks  and  black  water,  while  a 
restless  Moose,  seeking  its  mate,  wades  along  the  pond 
edge  drinking  and  snatching  mouthfuls  of  water-lily 
stems  that  will  be  soon  cut  down  by  the  frost,  then 
bellows  a  joyful  answer  to  a  faint  call  from  far  up  the 
river." 


XXVII 

"B'ARS   AND   POSSUMS" 

ERHAPS   Mammy  Bun   will    tell  us  a 
story    about    l  Possums    and    Bears,' '' 
said  Mr.  Blake,  as  they   gathered  by 
the  campfire   before  supper  one  Satur- 
day evening  in  February,  and  Rap,  on 
looking  through  the  portfolio,  had  chosen  these 
two  animals  of  widely  different  sizes  and  fami- 
lies. 

"  Perhaps  she  will,"  echoed  Dodo,  clapping  her 
hands ;  "  for  she's  promised  to  cook  supper  for  us  to- 
night, — '  ole-time  supper,'  she  calls  it,  with  hoe-cakes, 
eggs,  frizzly  bacon  and  rice  done  up  somehow  with 
pickle  sauce.  We  had  it  once  before,  and  it  was 
dreffly  good ! " 

"It  says  Opossum  on  the  picture,"  said  Nat,  "but 
everybody  calls  them  Possums,  from  Mammy  even  to 
Uncle  Roy.  Mammy  knows  lots  about  them,  and  she 
says  they  are  nicer  to  eat  than  spring  chicken  or  little 
roast  pig." 

"  But  how  can  she  tell  us  about  Bears  ?  "  said  Dodo. 
"  They  are  great  savage  beasts  of  cold  countries  and  big 
mountains.     Mammy  never  lived  in  any  such  places  !  " 

"  You  are  thinking  of  the  Grizzly  Bear  and  his  great 
white  brother  who  tramps  along  the  shores  of  Arctic 

370 


"B'ARS  AND  POSSUMS'"  377 

seas,  but  the  beast  of  our  picture  is  the  common  Ameri- 
can Bear,  called  Brown  and  sometimes  Black  Bear,  who 
is  still  found  in  almost  every  state  in  the  Union  and  in 
a  few  places  in  Canada  also,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
he  has  been  diligently  hunted  from  the  moment  House 
People  set  foot  on  these  shores." 

"Are  there  any  very  near  here  now?"  asked  Dodo, 
anxiously. 

"  Not  in  this  state,  but  in  others  near  by ;  in  Massa- 
chusetts, Maine,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  and  all  down  through  the  mountains  of 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana  where 
Mammy  was  born,  though  she  moved  up  to  Kentucky 
later  on." 

"  Are  they  as  strong  and  savage  as  Grizzlies  ?  "  asked 
Rap. 

"  They  are  as  strong  for  their  size,  but  not  as  savage 
and  will  never  attack  man  unless  cornered,  or  in  defence 
of  their  young." 

"  What  made  you  choose  a  little  and  a  big  animal  for 
a  story,  Rap  ?  "  asked  Olive,  "  and  two  that  aren't  alike 
in  any  way  ?  " 

"  I'm  not  so  sure  about  that,"  said  Mr.  Blake ;  "  for 
though  they  live  far  apart  on  the  Mammal  tree,  there 
are  four  ways  in  which  they  do  resemble  each  other.  I 
will  give  you  a  riddle,  and  you  must  answer  it  at  the  end 
of  the  evening.     Why  is  a  Possum  like  a  Bear? 

"  Meanwhile,  Dodo,  run  and  ask  Mammy  if  she  will 
tell  us  a  story,  and  while  she  is  cooking  supper  I  will 
tell  you  a  few  things  about  the  Black  Bear,  as  we  see 
him  in  the  North,  that  Mammy  may  not  know." 

"  Yes,  she  will  come  !  "  said  Dodo,  flying  back  ;  "  she 


378  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

sa}rs  thinking  of  making  hoe-cakes  by  a  wood  fire  takes 
her  straight  back  to  Possum  days.  Only  she's  going  to 
bring  her  griddle  to  bake  the  cakes  on ;  for  she  says  only 
poor  trash  that  had  no  griddles  baked  their  cakes  on 
hoes  down  South,  and  she  wants  plenty  of  hot  ashes 
raked  out  in  front." 

"  Mammy  shall  be  obeyed,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  arranging 
the  fire. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  wife,  smiling,  "  and  I  think  we  had 
better  go  in  a  far  corner  and  keep  out  of  Mammy's  w&y 
until  supper  is  ready.  She  is  very  good-natured,  but 
set  in  the  opinion  that  '  too  man}^  cooks  spoil  the 
broth ! ' " 

"  Good  advice,  as  usual.  Now  look  at  this  picture  of 
the  Black  Bear.  He  stands  a  trifle  under  three  feet  at 
the  shoulder,  weighs  commonly  anywhere  from  four  to 
six  hundred  pounds,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  winter 
season  at  least,  wears  a  smooth,  glossy  black  outside  coat 
that  makes  his  pelt  valuable  for  many  purposes,  from  rugs 
to  fur  trimming.  He  has  long  claws,  and  four  sharp  dog- 
teeth or  meat-eaters.  His  hind  legs  seem  longer  than 
the  fore  lep'S  when  he  ambles  alono-  and  he  walks  on  the 
soles  of  his  feet  as  man  does,  which  make  him  what  the 
Wise  Men  call  a  plantigrade  Mammal. 

"  In  the  more  northerly  places  this  Bear  lives  in  dense 
evergreen  forests,  and  dens  up  from  four  to  six  months 
in  the  cold  season,  but  in  the  South  his  haunts  are 
among  the  cane-brakes  and  tangles  of  live  oaks  and 
palmettos,  and  he  does  not  hi-ber-nate.  Either  in  the 
North  or  South,  however,  he  is  a  wary  beast  to  hunt, 
having  keen  ears  and  many  cunning  ways.  He  is  hard 
to  reach  unless  trailed  by  dogs,  which  method  of  taking 


"B'ARS  AND   POSSUMS" 


379 


him  is  about  as  barbarous  a  sport  as  exists  out  of  the 
country  of  Bull  fighting.  Even  if  the  Bear  has  done 
evil  things  and  you  do  not  care  for  him,  it  is  cruel  to 
urge  spirited  dogs  within  reach  of  his  teeth  and  claws, 
for  Bruin  is  courageous  when  brought  to  bay  and  sells 
his  life  dearly. 

"  The  Black  Bear  is  ranked  with  flesh-eaters,  but  he 
should  have  an  order  all  to  himself,  to  be  called,  'The 
Order  of  Gluttony,'  for  he  is  ready  to  eat  anything  at 
any  time,  —  fish,  flesh,  game,  poultry,  turtles'  eggs,  frogs, 
fruits,  and  berries,  all  mixed  together  with  as  much  honey 
in  the  comb  and  out  of  it  as  he  can  scoop  from  hollow 
trees,  in  spite  of  the  pointed  remonstrance  of  hordes  of 
angry  bees.  Honey  failing,  he  will  sit  in  a  cherry  tree 
and  gobble  until  you  would  expect  to  hear  the  cherry 
stones  rattling  about  inside  him. 


Black  Bear. 


380  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  In  winter,  when  Bears  den  up,  they  often  unknow- 
ingly set  traps  to  catch  themselves.  Sometimes  a  Bear 
prepares  a  cave  home  with  a  good  bed,  but  more  often 
merely  hollows  out  a  place  under  a  bank  or  tree  root  to 
curl  up  in.  Snow  comes,  covering  everything  many  feet 
deep.  Thawing  and  freezing  makes  a  hard  outside  crust, 
and  the  Bear's  warm  breath  melts  the  snow  inside  until 
it  is  turned  into  a  thick  ice  cage  that  shuts  him  in. 
Sometimes  hunters  see  the  steam  rising  from  these  caves 
or  break  through  them  cpuite  by  accident,  and  Bruin 
is  caught." 

"  Do  they  live  in  family  holes,  like  Beavers  ?  "  asked 
Rap. 

"No,  each  Bear  has  its  own  den.  The  cubs  are  born 
in  these  dens  late  in  winter,  and  of  all  the  feeble,  miser- 
able baby  animals,  Bear  cubs  are  the  most  forlorn.  They 
are  no  larger  than  kittens,  furless  and  blind,  and  they 
do  not  open  their  eyes  for  a  month  or  more,  while  their 
mother  is  obliged  to  play  that  she  is  a  sitting  hen  and 
keep  them  warm  under  her  fur  until  they  are  a  couple 
of  months  old.  When  five  or  six  months  old,  however, 
they  become  very  clever,  doing  a  hundred  funny  tricks. 
Only  two  or  three  cubs  are  found  in  a  den,  and  they  are 
usually  two  years  old  before  any  little  brothers  come  to 
dispute  their  rights.  Cowardly  as  these  animals  are 
generally,  it  is  a  very  dangerous  thing,  when  walking  on 
snow-shoes,  to  break  through  into  a  she-Bear's  den.  If 
possible,  she  won't  let  you  go  to  tell  the  tale  of  where 
you  found  her." 

"  Are  Bears  good  to  eat  ?  "  asked  Rap. 

"It  depends  upon  circumstances;  if  they  are  young, 
fat,  and  have  lived  upon  clean  food,  nuts  and  berries  — 


"B'ARH  AND  POSSUMS"  381 

yes.  If  they  are  old,  stagy  prowlers,  who  have  been 
alongshore  fishing  for  a  living,  or  eating  carrion — they 
make  decidedly  poor  food." 

"  De  bac'n  am  done  to  der  turn,  and  de  caikes  is  all 
ready,"  said  Mammy,  and  they  hastened  to  the  table. 
***** 

"B'ars  and  Possums,"  chuckled  Mammy,  looking  into 
the  fire  as  they  gave  her  the  seat  of  honor,  all  having 
helped  wash  the  dishes  so  that  no  time  might  be  lost. 

"  B'ars  and  Possums,  hoe-caikes  and  bac'n,  dem  was 
fine  times  —  dat  is,  when  they  ivas  fine  !  Seems  like  I 
can  see  der  old  cabin  right  on  de  edge  'tween  the  fields 
and  de  sweet-gum  and  gincos  an'  'simmon  trees  !  " 

"Was  that  where  the  Possums  lived?"  asked  Mrs. 
Blake,  gently,  because  when  Mammy  went  back  to  the 
good  old  times,  they  were  so  many  miles  off  that  it  was 
sometimes  difficult  to  get  her  home  again. 

"  Possums  ?  Possums  lib  ebery whar !  Lib  all  ober 
Souf  when  I  was  a  gal.  Dem  times  gone,  like  'nuf 
Possums  gone  too !  Possum  lib  in  tree  holes,  same  as 
Coon  does ;  eat  ebery  kind  ob  tings,  same  as  Coon  does. 
Possum  goes  a  walkin'  out  at  night,  same  as  Coon  does ; 
Possum  make  good  eatin',  same  as  Coon  does.  My  Ian' ! 
how  Sambo  did  like  Coon  and  Possum  !  Massa  Brans- 
comb  he  war  very  'ticular  no  folks  should  hunt  Possum 
and  Coon  in  spring  and  summer  time.  An'  when  he 
dasn't  go  huntin'  of  'em,  Sambo  he  jest  sing  about  'em, 
like  he'd  fly  away  —  '  Possum  up  de  gum  tree  '  war  his 
fav'rite  song. 

"  Den  when  he  war  a  cortin'  me,  time  he  stole  de 
Mockers  ter  git  de  banjo,  he  cortecl  me  wif  Coons  and 
Possums   too.      My !    didn't  dis  chile   hab  good  eatin' 


382  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

long  dose  times !  "  and  Mammy  broke  into  a  mellow 
laugh. 

"  Then  Mr.  Branscomb  protected  Possums  on  his 
plantation?"  said  Mr.  Blake. 

"Doan  know  if  he  call  it  pertected.  All  he  says 
was  —  'Doan  let  me  ketch  none  o'  you  boys  a  touchin' 
Possums  till  de  corn's  ripe.  If  dey  need  killin',  I  kin 
ten'  to  it  myself  till  den.' 

"  One  day  he  come  roun'  to  de  cabin  and  he  says : 
'Doan  }^ou  know  dat  little  Possums  has  big  'lashuns  dat 
lib  down  Australy  wajr,  what  carries  dere  babies  in  a 
big  apron  pocket,  jest  like  Possum  does,  and  am  bigger 
dan  a  man,  and  jump,  jump  'long  on  hind  legs  quicker 
dan  Rabbits  run  ?  Well,  den,  you  listen  !  Dis  big  cousin 
he  swim  ober  sea  and  come  here  visitin'  lit'le  cousin 
along  in  spring  and  summer,  and  if  he  find  niggers 
chasin'  lit'le  cousin  in  de  woods,  he  put  dem  niggers  in 
his  pocket  and  carry  dem  off  wif  him.  Hims  name 
K-a-n-g-a-r-o-o  ! '  Lan ' !  how  Massa  roll  dat  word  out 
long  !  And  dough  we  know  he  were  a  foolin'  o'  us  wid 
stories,  we  didn't  go  in  dem  woods  dose  times  nebber ! 

"  Now  de  Possum  am  a  cunnin'  lit'le  fellar,  not  much 
bigger  dan  a  cat.  He  got  bright  lit'le  eyes  an'  a  white 
face  and  a  snout  mos'  like  a  pig.  He  got  a  soft  cot, 
some  sho't  brown  fur,  and  some  long  and  white,  only  it 
don't  lie  soft  like  cat  fur;  it  all  stick  up  and  rnmfles. 
His  four  lee-s  has  got  hands  on  all  ob  dem,  instead  o' 
feet,  and  he  can  climb  like  de  mischief.  He  hab  got 
anoder  han'  too,  a  1-o-n-g  rat  tail,  dat  curl  roun'  like  er 
snake.  It  holes  on  jest  like  it  war  a  han',  and  Possum 
wind  it  roun'  der  branch  and  hang  hisself  down  and  go 
mos'  ter  sleep. 


"B'ARS  AND   POSSUMS 


383 


"  But  am'  dem  Possums  got  queer  ways  ?  I  seen  'em 
often  walkin'  along  der  fiel's  sidewise-like  an'  slow-like 
in  de  moonlite,  lying  down  and  playin'  dey're  daid  if 
anybody  touch  'em,  den  up  to  monkey  tricks  all  by 
derselves.     Dey  can  smell  good  too,  —  as  good  as  dogs, 


The  Opossum. 

and  keeps  roun'  der  oder  side  ob  trees  when  folks  is 
comin'.  Ain'  de  lit'le  Possum  putty !  Not  when  dey 
so  bery  lit'le,  dough.  Den  dey  is  powerful  small,  like 
lit'le  mice,  and  der  ma  she  hab  to  keep  'em  in  her 
apron  pocket  morna  month  befo'  dey  can  go  out  walkin' 
on  clere  own  legs.  Poor  Ma  Possum,  she  hab  a  dreffly 
worryin'  time,  an'  am  worse  off 'n  Rabbits  ;  for  she  hab  in 


384  FOUB-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

her  tree  hoi'  maybe  twenty  Possums  ebery  year,  and 
habe  ter  tote  'em  all  roun'  —  Rabbit  she  kin  leave  hers 
in  cle  grass  lies'. 

"  When  little  Possums  furst  goes  out  walkin'  dey 
want  ter  ride  on  der  ma's  back,  and  when  she  try  to 
shake  'em  off  dey  curls  dey  tails  round  her  like  dey 
was  a  hangin'  to  a  branch  !  Yah  !  I'se  seen  'em  !  De 
he-Possum  he  walk  curious  like  — set  him  foot  flat  down 
like  men  does,  an'  shor's  you  born  der  B'ars  walks  dat 
way  too ! 

"  Doan  I  mind  one  frosty  time  afore  Cris'mus,  Sambo 
and  me  were  goin'  ober  to  his  sister  Liza's  cabin,  de 
caine-brake  side  er  de  plantation  —  she  did  de  laundry 
fer  de  big  house.  But  she  weren't  to  home,  and  when 
we  got  dere,  such  a  sight !  Eberytin'  was  upset !  De 
bake  oven  was  all  gone;  de  meal  jar  was  cleaned  out; 
de  wash  tubs  was  rolled  out,  and  one  was  bust,  and  de 
nice  rocker  dat  your  gran'ma,  Miss  Olive,  give  Liza 
when  she  war  mar-ied  was  split  in  kin'lin's. 

" '  Dere  been  a  B'ar  dis  way ! '  sez  Sambo,  softlike, 
leanin'  down  an'  lookin'  at  de  footprints ;  '  an'  a  big 
B'ar  too ! ' 

" '  Does  yer  tink  he's  eat  Liza  ? '  says  I,  a  quakin'  and 
sinkin'  down  like  der  jelly  some  cooks  makes. 

"  '  Sho,  no  !  Liza's  all  right.  B'ars  doan  eat  folks,  — 
only  dey's  full  o'  mischief.  Lan'  sakes  !  he's  took  Liza's 
pig !  It's  over  yonder  and  part  eat,  and  here  der  B'ar 
hab  chawed  and  clawed  der  tree  high  up  as  him  could 
stretch  ;  dat's  a  sign  for  oder  B'ars  !  Let's  skip ! '  says 
Sambo,  a  grabbin'  me  and  startin'. 

"  4  What  fer  ?  '  says  I.  '  You  jest  lowed  he  wouldn't 
eat  us ! ' 


"B'ARS  AND    POSSUMS"  385 

"'What  fer?  Per  ter  tell  Massa  Branscomb,  and 
den  he'll  tak'  de  dogs  out !  'Tain't  offen  B'ars  come 
near  de  cabins,  dough  de  far  woods  am  full  ob  'em ! ' 

"  'Twarn't  an  hour  afore  de  dogs  was  out,  and  I  could 
hear  'em  yelpin'.  Dere  was  most  twenty  of  'em.  All 
kin's, — some  hounds,  some  tarriers,  and  some  not  any 
kind  at  all.  I  heard  'em  go  along  down  de  edge  toward 
Liza's  cabin,  and  den  when  Grip  — he  war  an  ole  hound  — 
let  a  yell,  I  knowd  dey  had  struck  de  track !  Well ! 
well !  Sambo  he  neber  come  back  till  nigh  mornin'. 
He  'lowed  dey  had  a  long  run  and  a  glor'us  fight  wid 
dat  B'ar.  Dat  Massa  Johns  (he  was  de  oberseer)  was 
clawed,  and  Grip  was  bit,  and  two  cur  dogs  got  kill'd ; 
for  dat  B'ar  jest  backed  against  a  tree,  and  fight  all  ober 
till  Massa  Branscomb  shoot  him  in  de  side  ! 

"  Massa  gib  Sambo  some  ob  der  best  meat,  'cause  he 
found  de  B'ar  tracks,  a  leaf  o'  fat,  some  libber,  and  er 
chunk  er  rump,  and  nex'  day  we  chop  it  all  up  wif 
bac'n  and  peppers,  and  tie  it  tight  in  dat  leaf  er  fat, 
and  fry  it  in  der  pan.  It  mak'  de  finest  eatin'  sassage 
in  de  worl' !  Sambo  he  got  er  taste  er  sport  and  meat, 
and  'lowed  he  liked  'em  boff,  so  nex'  night,  seein'  dere 
was  a  moon,  he  went  for  Possums  wid  de  Randolph 
boys,  —  Caesar,  Job,  and  Marcus-Relyus.  Dey  had 
some  or'nery  dogs,  and  Sambo  took  de  axe,  and  he 
'lowed  to  know  where  dere  was  fine  'Possums. 

"  Way  dey  do,  dey  get  de  dogs  on  de  track,  and 
follers  'em  close  up.  Sometimes  de  Possum'll  get  co't 
on  de  ground,  and  den  he  roll  up  and  play  daid,  and 
get  kilt  eas}r.  Odder  times  he  hide  in  de  tree  hole, 
and  dey  hab  to  cut  down  der  tree,  and  odder  times  he 
stick  to  a  branch  and  curl  his  tail  aroun',  and  den  de 
2  c 


386  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

boys  shake  him  off,  and  de  dogs  dey  finish  him.  Do 
you  know,  shore  as  you  horn,  if  dat  man  Sambo  didn't 
fotch  home  free  Possums  and  one  big  Coon.  My,  we 
libbed  high  dat  week !  Roast  Possum  wid  an  apple  in 
his  mouf  !     Lan',  I  kin  taste  it  dis  yer  minut !  " 

"I  don't  see  how  you  could  eat  anything  as  pretty  as 
Billy  Coon,"  said  Dodo,  reproachfully. 

"  Sho,  honey !  it  was  only  meat  to  we  uns,  and  meat 
was  source.  We  eat  'em  like  you  uns  eat  chickens. 
We  didn't  eat  no  house  pets  like  Billy.  An'  de  B'ars, 
if  dey  warn't  kep'  down  der  wouldn't  be  a  pig  left  to 
mak'  bac'n  on  de  'hole  plantation,  and  what  ud  we 
uns  be  without  bac'n!  Lan'!  but  dat  furst  Possum 
war  good!  De  furst  one  Sambo  an'  me  had  after  we 
got  mar-ied.  An'  dat  Coon  he  war  as  fat  as  grease,  an' 
dem  Car'lina  taters  dat  Massa  gib  Sambo,  'count  ob  der 
B'ar,  dey  was  jest  meltin'  wid  der  bac'n  fat !  Lan' ! 
lan' !  an'  warn't  dat  Possum  cracklin'  all  ober  when  he 
war  roasted !  We  had  comp'ny  all  dat  week,  I  tells 
yer,  but  yer  ought  to  see  dat  —  Lan'  sakes  ! "  cried 
Mammy,  coming  suddenly  North  again,  "Possums  or 
no  Possums,  I  near  done  forgot  to  set  dat  sponge  for  de 
buckwheat  caikes !  " 

"  Now,  who  can  answer  the  riddle  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Blake, 
as  soon  as  the  laugh  at  Mammy's  sudden  exit  had  sub- 
sided.    "  Why  is  a  Possum  like  a  Bear?  " 

"  I  can,"  said  Rap,  eagerly.  "  They  both  walk  on  the 
soles  of  their  feet,  they  can  both  climb  trees,  they  will 
both  eat  'most  anj^thing,  and  the  little  Bears  and  Pos- 
sums are  feeble  and  tiny  and  aren't  good  for  much  when 
they  are  born,  and  take  a  lot  of  tending  before  their 
eyes  are  open." 


XXVIII 


FROM   MOLETOWN   TO   BATVILLE 


EFORE  the  next  Saturday  the 
measles  had  grown  tired  of  visit- 
ing the  children  down  in  East 
Village  and  came  up  to  the  farm, 
without  the  least  scrap  of  an 
invitation ;  they  spread  their 
rough,  red  blankets  over  Nat's 
and  Dodo's  faces,  necks,  arms,  and 
chests,  evidently  making  preparations 
for  camping  there  some  time.  So  instead  of  going 
to  school  the  children  were  put  to  bed,  each  in  a  cot 
with  the  back  to  the  light,  and  a  screen  to  keep  off 
draughts,  in  the  south  room,  where  there  was  a  fine 
blazing  log  fire. 

"  I  suppose  Ave  must  stay  in  here  for  two  weeks," 
said  Dodo  to  Nat,  while  they  were  waiting  for  their 
mother  to  bring  their  breakfast.  "  Uncle  Roy  says  if 
you  are  not  polite  to  the  measles  when  they  come  to 
see  you,  and  don't  stay  in  the  house  to  entertain  them 
and  keep  them  warm  and  comfortable,  they  will  creep 
in  through  your  skin  and  give  you  a  cough  or  put  their 
fingers  in  your  eyes  and  make  them  ache." 

"  It's  nice  to  have  special  buttered  toast  and  mother 
all  to  ourselves,"  said  Nat,  "but  I'll  miss  Rap  and  the 
camp  awfully." 

387 


388  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

"  Uncle  says  he  will  read  to  us,  but  we  can't  have 
the  Audubon  animal  books  or  any  of  the  others  to  hold 
in  our  hands  or  look  at,  for  fear  the  measles  should  hide 
in  between  the  leaves  to  steal  a  ride,  and  pop  out  and 
visit  somebody  else." 

The  children  behaved  very  well.  Dodo  was  a  little 
fidgety  at  first  and  couldn't  bear  to  look  at  her  speckled 
hands,  and,  as  gloves  pinched,  insisted  upon  having 
stockings  pulled  over  them  and  fastened  at  the  shoul- 
ders. Nat  laughed  until  he  cried  when  he  saw  her 
sitting  up  in  bed  trying  to  feed  herself. 

"  O  Dodo ! "  he  gasped,  "  you  look  exactlv  like  the 
picture  of  the  Manatee  fanning  his  food  into  his  mouth 
with  his  flippers  !  " 

A  week  passed,  and  the  children  were  sitting  up  by 
the  fire  plajdng  checkers  with  a  board  ruled  on  a  box 
cover,  and  black  and  white  bone  buttons  for  men,  when 
they  heard  Doctor  Roy's  voice  saying,  "  It  was  hanging 
upside  down  to  the  roof  in  the  far  end  of  the  root 
cellar,  so  I  fetched  it  for  the  youngsters ;  thought  it 
might  please  'em  !  " 

"  I  wonder  what  it  is,"  said  Nat.  "  It  must  be  a 
cocoon." 

Then  the  Doctor  came  in  carrying  a  board  covered 
with  a  wire  cheese  screen.  "Here  is  a  visitor  that  you 
will  be  very  glad  to  see,  and  who  will  not  be  afraid  of 
the  measles.  Let  me  introduce  you  to  Yespertilio  suba- 
latiis,  —  the  little  Brown  Bat  who  had  hung  himself  up 
for  the  winter  sleep,  but,  as  you  see,  he  is  now  quite 
wide  awake  and  ready  to  bite  my  finger,  though  the 
light  confuses  him  so  that  he  is  trying  to  find  a  dark 
corner  of  the  board  to  hide  in." 


FROM  MOLETOWN    TO   BATVILLE 


389 


"  Isn't  it  jolly ! "  cried  Nat.  "  You  said  that  we 
couldn't  understand  rightly  about  the  Bat's  wings,  and 
how  they  were  different  from  a  bird's  or  a  Flying 
Squirrel's,  unless  we  saw  one.  Will  you  tell  us  about 
him  here  to-day?  Because  you  said  we  couldn't  go 
back  to  camp  for  another  week." 

"  Yes,  that  is  what  I  intended.  See,  I  have  brought 
up  a  few  pictures.  You  can  look  at  them,  and  then 
they  shall  have  a  whiff  of  sulphur  to  choke  any  measles 
that  might  wish  to  follow  them  back  to  the  portfolio. 


Little  Brown  Bat. 


"  We  have  climbed  the  ladder  almost  to  the  last 
branch  of  our  Mammal  tree.  Here  we  find  at  the  very 
top,  close  to  man  himself,  two  orders  of  very  strange 
beasts,  one  living  underground  and  one  in  the  air.  We 
have  seen  how  our  Mammals  are  adapted  to  the  con- 
ditions in  which  they  live.  How  water-lovers  have 
webbed  feet  for  swimming,  and  climbers  sharp  claws, 
but  in  these  two  great  orders,  Insectivora  or  Insect- 
eating  and  Chiroptera  or  Wing-handed  Mammals,  the 
particular  development,  which  the  Wise  Men  call  spe- 
cialization, is  truly  wonderful. 


390  FOUB-FOOTEB  AMERICANS 

"  Let  us  begin  with  the  Insect-eaters  and  go  under- 
ground to  Moletown.  This  tribe  has  a  great  many 
different  colonies  scattered  all  over  the  earth,  but  the 
residents  of  Moletown,  that  you  are  likely  to  see,  will  be 
the  Shrews  or  the  Moles  themselves.  You  would  never 
know  by  mere  sight  that  these  stupid-looking,  mouse- 
colored  animals,  with  round,  furry  bodies,  small  eyes, 
and  various  kinds  of  shovel  claws,  belonged  so  high  up 
in  the  Mammal  tree,  but  the  Wise  Men  have  placed 
them  there  because  of  their  special  features,  some  of 
which  you  could  not  possibly  understand. 

"  That  the  Mole  was  made  to  tunnel  in  the  ground 
and  live  in  the  dark,  you  can  see  for  yourselves  very 
easily.  Take  this  picture  and  notice  how  strong  and 
powerful  the  head  and  fore  parts  of  the  body  are  com- 
pared to  the  small  hind  legs.  The  arms  are  fastened 
close  to  the  short  neck  to  take  up  as  little  side  room  as 
possible  in  burrowing,  while  the  hands  are  broad,  heavy 
shovels,  flesh-colored  inside  and  edged  with  five  short 
fingers.  The  pink  nose  is  pointed  and  very  sensitive, 
the  eyes  small  and  so  protected  with  skin  that  many 
people  think  them  wholly  blind.  The  fur  is  short,  soft, 
of  a  beautiful  silvery  ash  gray,  darkening  to  lead  color." 

"I  remember  the  fur,"  said  Dodo,  "and  how  badly  it 
made  my  fingers  smell  when  I  tried  to  sew  it,  and  you 
said  the  smell  protected  the  Mole.  Do  all  the  people 
in  Moletown  have  this  smell,  Uncle  Roy  ?  " 

"  Yes,  our  Moles  and  Shrews  are  so  perfumed  that 
only  a  very  hungry  fourfoot  will  eat  them,  but  Hawks 
and  Owls  are  not  so  particular. 

"  The  Mole  that  you  have  often  seen  this  summer 
is  the   common  species.     He  has  a  cousin  hereabouts, 


FROM  MOLETOWN    TO   BATV1LLE  391 

who  wears  an  ornament  on  his  nose  like  the  rays  of  a 
tiny  ox-eyed  daisy  made  in  flesh ;  this  thing  is  sup- 
posed to  aid  his  strong  power  of  scent  and  has  given 
him   the  name   of  Star-nosed  Mole.     This  Mole  has  a 


Star-nosed  Mole. 

longer,  thicker,  hairier  tail  than  his  common  cousin, 
but  his  arms  are  not  so  powerful,  and  he  has  not  the 
perfect  shovel  hands.  Now,  how  do  these  tunnellers 
live,  what  do  they  eat,  and  are  they  doers  of  good  or 
of  evil  ? 

"  When  the  Mole  enters  fresh  ground  to  make  a  home, 
he  first  burrows  a  slanting  pathway  a  couple  of  inches 
underground;  below  this  the  main  avenues  are  extended 
through  the  section  he  considers  his  farm.  These  wide 
avenues  by  being  constantly  used  become  smooth  and 
firm  from  the  pressure  of  the  animal's  body,  and  he  does 
not  willingly  leave  them,  but  often  repairs  them  if  they 
cave  in.  At  intervals  there  are  short  side  roads  from 
these  avenues,  that  serve  as  hiding-places  or  switch 
tracks,  for  a  Mole  to  step  into  when  he  meets  one  of 


392  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

his  family  in  the  main  passage.  Six  and  eight  inches, 
or  even  a  foot  or  two,  below  ground,  connecting  with 
the  main  avenue  we  find  the  nest,  —  a  comfortable, 
domed  room  something  the  shape  of  an  inverted  six- 
inch  flower  pot,  furnished  with  a  good  bed  in  one 
corner.  This  nest  also  has  several  outlets  to  allow  the 
family  to  escape  in  case  of  an  earthquake,  such  as  a 
sub-soil  plough  would  cause  in  Moleville,  but  we  must 
not  confuse  these  avenues  with  the  shallow  burrows 
the  Mole  is  constantly  throwing  up  in  his  daily  search 
for  food. 

"  Moles  live  chiefly  on  animal  food,  insects,  grubs,  and 
earthworms  being  on  their  daily  bill  of  fare.  So  when 
we  see  a  lawn  or  field  ridged  and  uneven  from  their 
tunnelling,  we  must  remember  that,  annoying  and  un- 
sightly as  it  is,  if  the  piece  of  ground  were  not  full  of 
evil-minded  insect  or  worm  life,  the  Moles  would  not 
choose  it  for  their  hunting  ground.  The  Mole  once 
having  established  a  home  can  make  endless  excursions 
from  its  main  avenues  directed  to  his  prey,  by  his  keen 
senses  of  touch  and  smell,  as  accurately  as  the  Wolf  or 
Fox.  When  frost  seals  the  ground,  he  dives  into  a  safe 
deep  nest  and  stays  there  until  early  spring,  when  he 
goes  in  search  of  a  mate,  but  in  open  winters  I  have 
seen  his  '  hills '  rising  through  an  old  cornfield  in 
January. 

"  People  who  say  that  the  Mole  eats  bulbs  and  plant 
roots  make  a  mistake  and  judge  by  appearances  only, 
which  you  have  both  learned  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  do 
when  climbing  the  animal  tree.  Moles  do  root  up  the 
ground  and  disturb  plants,  when  grubs  and  larvse  are 
hidden  anions'  their  roots.     Also  Meadow  Mice  follow 


FROM  MOLETOWN   TO   BATVILLE  393 

in  Mole  tracks  and  nibble  anything  they  can  find,  from 
tulips  to  turnips.  But  we  have  no  positive  proof  that 
Moles  eat  vegetable  food.  In  fact,  they  are  ravenous 
meat-eaters,  and  when  the  experiment  was  made  of 
feeding  a  captive  Mole  with  vegetables  he  very  soon 
died  of  starvation.1 

"  The  Mole  has  his  regular  times  of  feeding,  his  sur- 
face burrows  being  made  commonly  at  early  morning, 
noon,  and  night,  wet  weather  favoring  his  work  by 
softening  the  ground.  There  are  many  traps  invented 
to  catch  him,  and  owners  of  fine  lawns  and  flower  gar- 
dens owe  him  a  grudge  and  would  willingly  besiege 
Moleville  with  fire  and  sword,  killing  every  inhabitant 
if  possible.  From  their  standpoint  he  is  a  great  nui- 
sance. Nature  would  say,  I  suppose  :  '  He  is  doing  my 
work,  get  rid  of  the  evil  insects  yourself,  —  cut  off  his 
reason  for  living  with  you  and  the  Mole  will  go.'  Mean- 
while here  at  the  farm  I  shall  continue  to  set  traps  for 
him. 

"There  is  another  family  of  insect-eaters  called  Shrews 
who  are  closely  related  to  the  Moles,  though  looking  much 
more  like  mice.  They  are  small  and  slender,  with  tiny 
ears  and  eyes  that  can  at  least  tell  light  from  darkness, 
though  their  wonderful  senses  of  touch  and  smell  are 
their  chief  guides.  They  feed  both  day  and  night,  some- 
times running  along  the  surface  of  the  ground  in  broad 
daylight.  They  love  the  woods  as  a  Mole  does  the  open 
country,  and  have  their  holes  in  easily  reached  places 
under  roots  and  in  logs,  for  they  lack  the  Moles'  shovel 
hands  for  deep  burrowing. 

"  The  Short-tailed  Shrew  is  our  most  common  species. 
1  Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam.  Mammals  of  Adirondacks. 


394 


FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 


It  is  a  vigorous  animal,  not  hibernating  in  the  coldest 
weather,  and  you  may  almost  mistake  its  tiny  footprints 
on  the  snow  for  bird-tracks.  It  is  a  savage  little  beast, 
too,  and  a  blood-thirsty  fighter,  being  the  especial  enemy 
of  the  Meadow  Mouse,  or  Vole,  as  some  people  call  it. 

"  Many  Wise 
Men  whose 
words  we  can 
trust  have  told 
of  battles  be- 
tween these 
Shrews  only 
three  and  three- 
quarter  inches 
long  and  Mead- 
ow Mice  four 
and  one  -  half 
inches  long. 
One  of  these 
men,  in  order  to 
see  exactly  how 
it  was  done,  put 
a  Shrew  and  a 
Meadow  Mouse 
into  a  box  and 
watched  them.  Soon  they  were  rolling  about  in  a  rough- 
and-tumble  fight,  the  Shrew  biting  at  the  ears  of  the 
Mouse,  which  he  finally  killed  and  immediately  began 
to  eat.  So  when  we  think  how  mischievous  the  Meadow 
Mouse  is,  we  should  be  very  grateful  to  this  Shrew 
with  the  lead-colored  fur  and  short  tail. 

"  There  is  another   Shrew,  common    in   the   middle 


Short-tailed  Shrew. 


FROM  MOLETOWN   TO  BATVILLE 


395 


West,  that  contests  with  a  tiny  pocket  mouse  the  honor 
of  being  the  'least  beast'  on  our  Mammal  tree.  This 
is  the  Least  Shrew,  who  measures  only  a  trifle  over  two 
inches  in  length.  When  we  think  of  the  length  of  a 
Whale,  and  that  both  Shrew  and  Whale  are  living 
Mammals,  belonging  either  on  American  soil  or  in 
American  waters,  our  Mammal  tree  seems  to  bear  the 


The  Least  Shrew. 


most  wonderful  fruit  of  which  our  country  can  boast. 
I  hope  that  many  children  may  follow  us  in  our  climb, 
as  far  as  they  are  able,  without  being  made  dizzy  by 
trying  to  explore  the  maze  of  the  smaller  branches  and 
twigs. 

"  Look  at  your  Bat ;  he  has  eaten  the  shreds  of  meat  I 
gave  him.  I  will  take  him  out  and  spread  his  wings  for 
you  to  see.  It  is  always  better  to  follow  Nature's  plan 
and  travel  upward  instead  of  downward  ;  so  let  us  go  up 


396  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

in  the  trees  to  Batville  and  see  how  its  inhabitants  live 
and  work. 

"  First  look  at  the  specialization  that  enables  the  Bat 
to  fly  with  real  wings,  —  fly,  and  not  merely  sail  like 
the  Flying  Squirrel,"  said  the  Doctor,  holding  the  Bat's 
wings  open.  "  See  the  shoulder,  elbow,  and  long  fore- 
arm. The  fingers  begin  to  divide  at  the  wrist,  so  the 
hand  has  no  palm.  There  is  a  sort  of  hooked  thumb, 
and  then  the  other  fingers  grow  long  and  support  the 
skin  that  makes  the  wing,  as  the  frame  supports  an 
umbrella.  The  hind  limbs,  you  see,  are  small  and  very 
weak  in  contrast  to  the  strong  collar-bone  and  long 
arms." 

"  Oh,  yes  !  "  cried  Nat.  "  Rap  said  a  Flying  Squirrel's 
coat  was  like  a  blanket  fastened  to  the  wrist  and  ankles, 
and  the  Bat's  wings  are  all  skin  like  a  three-cornered 
shawl,  with  its  arms  fastened  in  the  top  corners  and  the 
point  fastened  to  the  tip  of  its  tail." 

"  Yes,  and  you  remember  how  the  bird's  wing  was 
like  an  arm  with  only  the  beginning  of  two  fingers  and 
thumb,  that  served  as  a  frame  to  hold  the  fringe  of 
feathers.  Though  birds  are  not  Mammals,  their  branch 
of  the  animal  tree  grows  very  close  by." 

"Are  all  Bats  made  the  same  way,  Uncle  Roy?  I 
remember  a  picture  of  one  in  a  book  that  I  had.  It  was 
called  the  Vampire  Bat ;  it  ate  people  and  belonged  to 
some  very  far  away  country.  It  must  take  a  very  big 
sort  of  Bat  to  kill  people." 

"  The  wings  of  all  Bats  are  made  on  the  same  plan, 
though  their  bodies  vary  greatly  in  size  ;  but  the  forma- 
tion of  teeth,  noses,  ears,  and  so  forth,  varies  according 
to  the  needs  of  the  different  species.     Thus  the  Fruit- 


FROM  MOLETOWN   TO   BATVILLE  397 

eating  Bat  has  ears  and  eyes  of  moderate  size,  while  the 
insect-eaters  have  very  large  ears,  small  eyes,  and  wide 
months  fringed  with  hair,  that  make  a  sort  of  fly-trap 
akin  to  the  Whip-poor-will's  beak.  The  Fruit-eating 
Bats  have  a  raised-up  ring  on  the  tongue,  which  gives 
them  great  sucking  power.  They  are  thus  able  to  suck 
the  juice  from  large  fruits  that  they  cannot  pick  and  eat. 
Sometimes  when  very  hungry  they  have  been  known 
to  suck  the  blood  from  the  small  surface  veins,  or 
capillaries,  of  cattle,  or  even  people,  but  they  never  eat 
people  or  do  any  of  the  savage  things  that  story  books  are 
so  fond  of  relating.  The  real  Vampire  Bat  of  tropical 
America,  Desmodon  rufus,  as  the  Wise  Men  call  him,  is  a 
little  fellow  no  larger  than  our  Little  Red  Bat  and  has  no 
middle  front  teeth  or  molars,  but  instead  has  two  sharp 
dog-teeth  that  he  uses  to  prick  the  flesh  so  that  he  may 
suck  blood.  He  will  sometimes  fasten  upon  the  toes 
of  sleeping  people,  and  the  negroes  are  very  much 
afraid  of  him.  Our  familiar  Bats  are  small  and  of  the 
insect-eating  species.  Four  belong  in  the  family  of 
Twilight  Bats,  called  Tresper-til-ion-idce,  and  one  to  the 
family  of  House  Bats. 

"  Numerous  as  Bats  are,  very  little  is  seen  of  them, 
for  they  are  lovers  of  darkness,  not  coming  out  to  hunt 
their  insect  food  until  after  the  last  Vesper  Sparrow  has 
gone  to  sleep,  and  the  Whip-poor-will  has  begun  to  com- 
plain. They  are  obliged  to  take  a  very  long  winter 
nap.  You  have  seen  that  the  insect-eating  birds  leave 
us  earlier  in  autumn  than  the  seed-eaters ;  so  for  the 
same  reason  Bats,  who  do  not  migrate,  go  to  sleep  when 
the  frost  clears  the  insects  from  their  airy  hunting 
grounds.     Then  they  flit  away  to  some  dark  old  build- 


398  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

ing,  cavern,  or  abandoned  mine  shaft,  far  enough  from 
the  air  not  to  freeze,  and  hanging  themselves  up  by  the 
hind  feet,  fall  into  such  a  deep  sleep  that  you  cannot 
detect  the  faintest  breath." 

"  What  a  dreadfully  cold  way  to  sleep,"  said  Dodo, 
shivering  at  the  thought.  "  Hanging  up  so  that  the 
wind  can  blow  right  through  them  and  nothing  to  keep 
their  feet  warm.  Do  they  always  sleep  that  way  in 
summer,  Uncle  Roy  ?  " 

"  Usually  when  found  in  the  daytime  hidden  in  out- 
buildings or  under  large  leaves  they  are  hanging  in  that 
way,  and  their  young  are  often  found  clinging  to  them 
and  nursing  in  this  position." 

"  Do  they  build  nests  ?  "  asked  Nat. 

"No,  they  either  suspend  themselves  wherever  they 
happen  to  be,  or  crawl  under  the  roofs  of  old  buildings, 
which  they  sometimes  occupy  in  great  parties.  You  see 
they  hang  up  to  go  to  sleep  as  naturally  as  we  lie  down." 

"  Can  they  walk  at  all,  or  do  they  always  fly  ? " 
asked  Dodo. 

"  They  can  walk  along  slowly  and  with  a  good  deal 
of  trouble  by  clinging  with  their  hooked  thumbs,  their 
wings  being  folded  and  sticking  up  like  the  hind  legs 
of  a  grasshopper. 

"  The  House  Bat  (called  the  Snouty  Bat  by  the  Wise 
Men,  because  of  its  curious  nose)  is  a  small  light- 
brown  species  common  in  the  South,  which  makes 
attics  and  roofs  its  favorite  resting-places.  It  seems 
to  use  its  feet  more  than  any  other  species  and  may 
be  heard  shuffling  about  after  dark,  making  the  same 
noise  that  you  would  imagine  might  come  from  a 
party  of  mice  on  crutches. 


FROM  MOLETOWN   TO  BATVILLE  399 

"  This  Little  Brown  Bat  that  Rod  has  brought  seems 
to  have  been  living  alone  in  the  root  cellar,  though  I 
dare  say  if  we  looked  we  should  find  others.  You  saw 
them  last  summer  flapping  about  when  we  were  looking 
for  Whip-poor-wills." 

"  The  Bats  we  saw  seemed  much  bigger  than  this," 
said  Nat.  "  Aren't  there  any  larger  ones  here  that  we 
might  have  seen  ?  " 

"  Yes,  we  have  the  Brown  Bat,  who  is  the  same  color 
as  this  little  brother,  but  spreads  his  wings  two  inches 
further,  and  the  beautiful  Red  Bat  with  his  shaded 
'  golden-red  '  coat  frosted  with  white.  This  Red  Bat  is 
one  of  the  earliest  to  come  out  at  night,  and  may  some- 
times be  seen  even  in  cloudy  days,  and  it  is  more  com- 
mon here  than  the  Little  Brown  Bat,  and  is  not  much 
larger.  It  is  a  most  devoted  parent,  and  mothers  have 
been  known  to  follow  their  children,  which  are  usually 
twins,  to  the  rooms  of  houses  where  they  were  made 
prisoners.  Still  I  am  quite  sure  that  our  visitor,  this 
Little  Brown  Bat,  is  the  species  that  has  flapped  in 
our  very  faces  this  summer,  for  anything  on  the  wing 
seems  much  larger  than  when  held  in  the  hand. 

"  There  is  a  very  beautiful  species  called  the  Hoary 
Bat,  with  frosty  gray  fur,  that  I  have  found  in  the 
far  hickory  woods,  and  though  it  ranges  from  the  Sas- 
katchewan country  down  through  the  highlands  as  far 
as  Mexico,  very  few  people  except  the  Wise  Men  know 
it  for  a  Bat  —  and  why  ?  Because  in  the  first  place  it 
does  not  begin  to  fly  until  quite  dark,  and  then  its 
flight  being  both  rapid  and  direct  and  its  wings  long 
and  pointed,  they  may  mistake  it  for  an  owl." 

"Can  it  hoot  like  an  Owl?"  said  Nat.     "The  Bats 


400  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

I've  seen  never  make  a  scrap  of  noise;  the  first  thing 
yon  know  they  seem  close  to  yon  and  before  you  can 
wink  they  have  gone,  and  daddy  says  they  will  never 
touch  you  or  claw  your  hair,  as  Rod  says  they  do." 

"  You  are  right ;  the  flight  of  a  Bat  is  silent.  See  if 
you  can  tell  me  why." 

"I  can,"  said  Dodo,  whose  eyes  were  sparkling  and 
dancing  as  they  always  did  when  she  thought  of  an 
answer  almost  before  a  question  was  asked.  "  You  said 
a  Nighthawk  made  a  noise  because  the  wind  blew 
through  its  wing  quills  when  it  dropped,  just  like  when 
I  blow  on  my  little  comb  and  it  whistles,  and  a  Bat  has 
only  skin  wings  with  no  feathers  to  whistle  with !  " 

"  The  exact  reason  —  a  stringless  violin  makes  no 
sound.  But  what  shall  we  do  with  our  Little  Brown 
Bat?  Suppose  I  take  him  back  to  the  root  cellar  and 
see  if  he  will  hang  himself  up  and  go  to  sleep  again." 

"Oh,  yes!"  said  Dodo;  "and  then  by  and  bye  when 
he  is  all  aired  Rap  can  see  him." 

*  *  *  *  * 

"  Did  he  hang  up  again?"  the  children  asked  eagerly 
when  the  Doctor  returned. 

"  He  flew  about  a  few  moments  and  then  disappeared 
in  a  dark  corner.  When  Rod  brought  a  lantern,  Ave 
found  five  others  all  hanging  to  the  roof,  like  so  many 
cocoons  in  a  row.  Their  eyes  were  shut  and  they 
showed  no  signs  of  life,  but  I  could  tell  our  friend 
from  the  others  because  he  was  breathing  quickly  and 
shifted  his  position  when  the  lantern  flashed  on  him. 
So  by  and  bye  you  can  all  go  and  see  how  Batville 
looks  in  winter." 

"It  will  be  nice  to  go  back  to  camp  again,"  said  Nat, 


FROM  MOLETOWN    TO  BATVILLE  401 

after  a  pause,  "  but  what  shall  we  do  for  stories  ?  The 
pictures  are  almost  used  up,  and  we  have  climbed  to 
the  top  branch  of  the  tree,  and  by  and  bye  it  will  be 
too  warm  for  a  campfire." 

"Bless  me!"'  exclaimed  the  Doctor,  "how  sad  you 
are.  One  would  think  you  had  the  knowledge  of  the 
whole  world  to  carry.  You  have  only  made  a  little 
fluttering  excursion  in  this  wonderful  tree,  groping 
your  way  like  a  Bat  in  a  strange  garret;  now  you  can 
begin  at  the  root  again  and  stop  to  rest  on  any  branch 
that  pleases  you,  reading  delightful  books  on  the  way. 
Then,  as  soon  as  Nature  opens  her  door  again,  the  door 
of  Camp  Outdoors,  you  can  use  Camp  Saturday  for  a 
museum,  a  place  where  you  may  bring  your  treasures, 
—  cocoons,  snake  skins,  twigs,  stones,  mosses,  —  all  with- 
out let  or  hindrance. 

"  Speaking  of  museums,  you  have  been  so  good  while 
you  have  been  ill,  and  obeyed  about  not  popping  your 
heads  out  of  windows  or  doors,  that  I  will  tell  you  a 
secret  —  a  great  surprise! 

"  Dear,  don't  choke  me  !  Dodo,  you  know  I  told  you 
that  you  mustn't  hug  any  one  until  you  took  the  stock- 
ings off  your  arms,  and  turned  from  a  Manatee  back  to 
a  little  girl. 

"  The  secret  is  this !  Early  in  March,  when  the  days 
grow  a  little  longer,  your  father  and  I  expect  to  have  a 
party,  and  your  mother,  Olive,  Rap,  Nat,  and  yourself 
are  to  be  the  guests.  We  are  going  to  New  York  to 
spend  the  night  at  a  hotel,  and  visit  the  Natural  History 
Museum,  and  also  to  see  a  few  four-footed  Americans 
that  live  in  the  Park.  I  know  that  you  often  visited 
both  these  places  when  you  lived  in   the  city,  but  I  am 

2  D 


402  FOUR-FOOTED   AMERICANS 

sure  you  feel  a  different  interest  in  your  four-footed 
countrymen  since  you  have  climbed  their  Family  Tree." 

"  I  do  already,  Uncle  Roy,"  said  Dodo.  "  I  used  to 
look  at  the  stuffed  skins,  but  they  seemed  dead,  far- 
away beasts,  like  the  Lions  and  Tigers.  Now  they  are 
real  people,  just  like  Quick  and  Mr.  Wolf." 

"  Oh,  how  jolly  it  will  be  taking  Rap  around ! "  said 
Nat ;  "  and  then,  if  we  go  to  a  hotel,  we  can  have  striped 
ice  cream  and  ride  in  an  elevator !  For,  do  you  know, 
Uncle  Roy,  I've  told  Rap  about  them,  but  I  don't  think 
he  really  believes  that  elevators  are  real  things." 


XXIX 


A   FOUR-FOOTED   DANCE 


EFORE  the  children  had  tired  of 
Camp  Saturday,  or  the  snow  had 
quite  disappeared  from  the  north 
side  of  the  stone  fences,  it  was 
March,  and  that  part  of  the  month 
when  the  sun  rises  and  goes  to 
bed  promptly  at  six  o'clock. 
The  time  of  the  year  when  he- 
paticas,  lodging  in  the  leaf  mould 
of  sheltered  banks,  are  unfurling 
their  petals,  when  the  brown  carpet  of  the  woods  is 
fragrant  and  rosy  with  arbutus  flowers,  and  tufts  of 
broad  green  leaves  dot  the  marshes  and  low  meadows. 
The  children  were  quite  well  again,  school  kindly  took 
a  double  holiday  to  have  a  smoky  furnace  cured,  and 
so  all  the  family  at  Orchard  Farm,  except  Mammy  Bun 
and  Rod,  started  on  their  excursion  to  New  York. 
Now  in  some  respects  excursions  are  very  much  alike : 
people  see,  hear,  and  eat  a  great  deal  more  than  is  good 
for  them,  and  are  consequently  usually  rather  tired  and 
peevish  for  several  days  afterward.  This  excursion, 
however,  was  of  a  different  sort;  it  had  only  one  motive, 
and  that  was  to  see  in  two  days  as  many  of  the  four- 
footed  Americans  as  the  city  had  to  show. 

403 


404  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

When  they  were  on  the  cars,  Mr.  Blake  said  incident- 
ally that  he  was  going  to  give  Olive  something  as  a 
reward  for  having  been  so  patient  with  Nat  and  Dodo 
and  their  perpetual  questions,  but  added  that  he  was 
quite  sure  that  they  could  never  imagine  what  the  gift 
was  to  be. 

"  A  big  box  of  books,"  ventured  Rap. 

"  A  new  album  to  paste  her  pressed  flowers  in," 
guessed  Dodo,  "because  the  old  one  is  crammed  full." 

"  No,  something  bigger  than  those,  —  a  nice  pony  cart 
so  that  she  can  drive  herself  anywhere  she  likes,"  said 
Nat,  earnestly. 

"  Wrong,"  said  Mr.  Blake.  "  I  know  how  fond  you 
all  are  of  birds  and  their  nests,  of  beasts  and  flowers  and 
bugs,  so  I  thought  you  would  like  to  make  a  collection 
of  such  things  as  you  find  about  the  farm,  and  let  the 
village  children  see  and  enjoy  them  also.  As  I  know 
that  Olive  may  be  trusted  with  it,  I  am  going  to  buy 
her  a  fine  new  gun  so  that  she  may  shoot  all  these  things 
for  you." 

"  Why,  daddy,  I'm  perfectly  astonished !  "  cried  Dodo, 
turning  red  and  fairly  bristling  with  indignation.  "Do 
you  want  to  turn  our  Olive  into  a  wicked  Hunting 
Wolf,  and  just  when  we've  coaxed  the  Wood  boys  to 
stop  shooting  Meadowlarks  and  made  them  promise  not 
to  take  but  one  egg  out  of  each  nest  if  they  must  go 
collecting1  ?  " 

"  Don't  worry,  Dodo,"  said  Olive,  laughing ;  "  for 
though  I  have  not  the  least  idea  about  the  present,  I  can 
tell  by  the  twinkle  in  Uncle  Jack's  eyes  that  it  is  some 
very  harmless,  nice  sort  of  gun  he  means." 

"  Shall  we  have  striped  ice  cream  for  lunch  or  dinner?" 


A    FOUR-FOOTED  DANCE  405 

asked  Dodo,  suddenly  changing  the  subject  as  they  left 
the  cars,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blake  going  down  town,  and  the 
others  up,  in  Dr.  Roy's  charge. 

"No  ice  cream  or  sweeties  at  all  to-day,"  the  Doctor 
said  firmly,  "  if  you  wish  to  go  tramping  about  to  see 
the  animals.  First,  we  will  go  to  the  Park  and  see  the 
live  Grizzly  and  Polar  Bears  in  their  den,  and  I  can 
promise  you  a  peep  at  Coyotes,  Timber  Wolves,  and 
Foxes,  besides  the  Puma  and  the  Ocelot.  I  know  that 
you  will  think  that  they  look  very  unhappy  in  their 
cages,  and  they  are  not  nearly  as  comfortable  as  they 
will  be  when  they  go  to  live  in  the  Zoological  Park." 

"Oh,  there  is  a  donkey!"  shouted  Nat.  "I  wonder 
if  it  is  the  same  one  that  we  used  to  ride  when  we  lived 
here  in  the  city?  May  Rap  have  a  ride  now,  and  then 
Dodo  and  I?" 

"  Why,  uncle !  I  do  believe  you've  brought  a  bag  of 
dimes  and  quarters  on  purpose,"  said  Dodo,  as  the  Doctor 
took  the  necessary  money  for  three  rides  from  a  well-filled 
pouch.  » 

"  I  am  not  an  old  man  and  more  or  less  wise,  without 
knowing  that  plenty  of  small  change  is  a  must-be,  if 
you  wish  the  wheels  of  an  excursion  to  move  smoothly 
and  not  jolt  all  the  pleasure  out  of  it,"  said  the  Doctor, 
pocketing  his  bag  again. 

***** 

That  night  when  the  Orchard  Farm  family  met  at  a 
hotel  that  overlooked  one  of  the  Park  entrances,  the 
first  question  the  children  asked  was,  —  "Has  Olive's 
gun  come  ?  " 

"  Yes,  here  it  is,"  said  Mr.  Blake,  leading  the  way  to 
a  table  that  was  covered  with  brown  paper  parcels  and 


406  FOUB-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

a  mass  of  packing-  material.  "  Here  is  a  gun,  here  are 
the  bullets,  and  the  trigger  goes  so  —  snap  !  " 

"It  is  a  beautiful  camera!"  exclaimed  Olive  in 
delight,  sitting  down  by  the  table  in  a  state  of  surprise 
and  bewilderment.  "A  real  camera,  with  legs  to  stand 
it  on,  as  well  as  a  handle  to  carry  it  by,  and  it  holds 
glass  plates  or  rolls  of  film,  whichever  you  prefer, — 
not  one  of  those  miserable  little  trick  boxes  that  was 
all  that  I  ever  expected  to  buy  for  myself." 

"  Yes,  and  see  all  the  trays  and  bottles  and  things,  so 
that  you  can  develop  and  print  your  own  pictures," 
said  the  Doctor,  growing  enthusiastic  as  he  looked, 
"  with  yards  of  rubber  tubing  to  work  the  shutter  so 
that  you  can  set  the  box  on  a  fence,  hide  behind  a  tree, 
and  catch  snap  shots  of  a  Robin  building  his  nest  or  a 
Squirrel  scampering  by.  How  would  you  like  to  go 
into  partnership  with  me,  daughter?  For  I  think  that 
we  two  can  make  a  set  of  lantern  slides  that  will  open 
the  eyes  of  the  village  children  to  wild  things  near  home. 
What !  supper  time  already  ?;' 

Then  they  all  went  down  in  the  elevator  to  the 
dining-room,  enjoying  Rap's  surprise  at  everything  he 
saw. 

X'I  don't  like  riding  down"  he  confessed;  "it  makes 
you  feel  all  loose  inside,  just  like  when  3rou've  found  a 
hornet's  nest  in  an  old  tree  and  go  to  get  down  quick 
and  have  to  slide  because  there  aren't  many  branches." 

The  next  day  the  children  went  to  the  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  and  as  they  entered  the  great  doors 
and  were  greeted  by  Tip,  the  elephant  of  circus  fame, 
Dodo  said:  "  Where  shall  we  begin  ?  If  we  begin  down- 
stairs, I  am  sure  we  shall  never  get  to  the  top  in  one 


A   FOUR-FOOTED  DANCE  407 

day,  and  if  we  begin  up  top,  we  shall  never  get  down 
again  before  dark.  Who  lives  on  the  very  top  floor, 
Uncle  Roy  ?  " 

"  Some  of  the  Wise  Men  are  there  !  " 

"  The  Wise  Men  that  count  teeth  and  claws  and  say 
whether  the  little  fur  beasts  that  are  white  in  winter 
moult  all  over  or  only  change  the  color  of  their  hair?" 
asked  Rap. 

"The  very  same." 

"  Don't  let's  go  there,  then,"  whispered  Dodo  to  Nat, 
"  because  if  they  are  so  wise,  they  would  be  sure  to  know 
that  it  is  time  for  another  of  my  teeth  to  be  shed,  and 
they  might  want  it  pulled  out  now !  What  is  next  to 
the  top?"  she  asked  the  Doctor  hastily. 

"  Bones  and  stones  and  shells,  but  after  you  have  been 
introduced  to  the  Four-footed  Americans  in  Mammal 
Hall,  I  will  take  you  where  you  can  meet  all  the  home 
birds  of  the  farm,  the  marshes,  and  the  shore,  beside 
many  others  that  live  within  fifty  miles  hereabouts. 
For  you  see  these  Wise  Men,  in  addition  to  studying 
dry  bones,  understand  the  needs  of  flesh-and-blood 
children,  and  know  what  will  interest  them  the  most  in 
their  winged  and  four-footed  brothers,  and  so  they  have 
arranged  them  in  a  way  that  they  may  be  easily  found." 

"  Oh !  oh  !  "  exclaimed  Dodo  as  the}?"  wandered  into 
the  hall  where  the  Mammals  live,  "  here  are  Wood- 
chucks  that  look  as  if  they  had  just  come  from  our 
rocky  pasture  and  brought  a  piece  of  it  with  them !  " 

"  See  this ! "  said  Rap,  hopping  toward  the  bit  of 
mossy  woods  that  sheltered  a  Moose  family. 

"Here  are  the  Two  Kings!"  cried  Nat,  running 
toward  the  stretch  of  prairie  where  a  magnificent  Bison 


408  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

had  stopped  in  his  grazing  and  was  eying  a  sand-colored 
rattlesnake. 

"  Hush  !  not  so  loud  !  "  cautioned  Mr.  Blake,  "  or  you 
will  have  the  Indians  downstairs  breaking  out  of  their 
glass  cases  and  challenging  you." 

Luncheon  had  little  attraction  for  the  children  that 
clay,  and  late  afternoon  found  them  still  lingering.  It 
was  growing  dusky  when  the  Doctor  caught  Dodo  by 
the  hand,  saying,  "  We  must  go  now  or  we  shall  be 
shut  in." 

"  I  don't  think  I  should  quite  like  to  stay  here  in  the 
dark,"  she  said,  kissing  her  hand  to  a  Red  Fox  as  she 
passed  him.  "  I  wonder  if  he  is  a  Dream  Fox,  and  if 
he  ever  comes  out  of  his  case  ?  " 

***** 

"  If  she  only  knew,"  whispered  the  Fox  to  the  Wild- 
cat across  the  room,  "she  wouldn't  go  home  to-night." 

"Knew  what?"  asked  the  Wildcat,  without  moving 
an  eyelash  or  a  whisker. 

"  Who  are  you  that  you  do  not  know  how,  after  dark 
on  March  21,  we  fourfoots  all  come  out  of  our  cases  and 
hold  our  spring  dance  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  know  it,"  replied  the  Wildcat,  "  because 
last  year  I  did  not  live  in  a  case ;  I  had  a  house  in  a 
hollow  tree,  a  mate,  and  three  kittens." 

"  Ah !  I  understand,"  said  the  Fox,  asking  no  more 
questions  out  of  respect  to  the  Cat's  feelings.  "  I  will 
explain.  There  is  an  endless  oval  path  in  the  sky  that 
the  sun  walks  round  once  every  year.  Spring  lives  at 
one  turn  of  the  path,  and  Autumn  at  the  other,  with 
Winter  and  Summer  half-way  between.  Now  on  March 
21  the  sun  always  reaches  the  spot  where   Spring  lives 


A   FOUR-FOOTED  DANCE  409 

and  steps  over  into  her  garden,  walking  through  it  until 
he  reaches  Summer ;  so,  on  the  evening  of  that  day, 
we  fourfoots  may  leave  our  prisons  and  dance  all  night 
in  honor  of  the  season." 

"  How  do  you  know  all  this,  and  who  planned  the 
dance  ?  "  questioned  the  Wildcat. 

"  The  Wise  Men  have  pictures  of  the  sun's  pathway 
in  their  books,  and  I  know  it  and  I  planned  the  dance, 
because  I  am  a  Bream  Fox!''''  he  whispered.  "When  it 
is  quite  dark  and  every  one  has  gone  home  but  the 
night  watchman,  who  will  not  tell  tales  that  no  one 
would  believe,  the  dance  will  begin  !  " 

***** 

"How  good  one  of  those  Rabbits  will  taste,"  said  the 
Wildcat  a  few  hours  later.  "  It  is  a  very  long  time 
since  I  ate  fresh  meat." 

"What  are  you  saying?"  snapped  the  Fox.  "Sup- 
pose every  one  of  us  ate  what  he  wished,  what  would 
the  Wise  Men  say  in  the  morning  when  they  found  half 
of  the  cases  empty  ?  " 

"See,  the  Possum  and  the  Coon  are  out  already  and 
drawing  up  the  window  shades.  Our  friend  the  Moon 
is  up;  that  is  the  signal.  Now  the  Bison,  Moose,  and 
Elk  are  starting ;  they  always  take  the  lead  in  the 
social  affairs  of  Four-footed  Americans." 

The  larger  animals  soon  took  their  places,  two  by  two, 
in  the  entrance  hall.  The  Bison  first,  with  the  Moose, 
Elk,  Caribou,  American  Deer,  and  Antelope  behind. 
The  Musk  Ox,  Bighorn,  and  Mountain  Goat  presently 
sauntered  along  together,  complaining  of  the  heat. 
Meanwhile,  the  Wolves,  Foxes,  and  various  Cats  had 
an  argument  about  the  right  of  way,  the  Puma  so  far 


410  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

forgetting  himself  as  to  raise  a  heavy  paw  and  box  the 
ears  of  the  biggest  Timber  Wolf,  and  the  Dream  Fox 
was  obliged  to  interfere  to  prevent  a  free  fight. 

The  Rabbits,  Squirrels,  and  little  Gnawers  kept  get- 
ting under  the  feet  of  the  others,  until  the  Porcupine, 
as  Marshal  of  his  Order,  undertook  to  prod  them  into 
place,  using  his  prickly  tail  as  a  weapon.  As  for  the 
Rats  and  Mice,  it  was  impossible  to  make  them  walk  in 
pairs,  so  they  scrambled  along  to  suit  themselves,  the 
Jumping  Mice  and  Kangaroo  Rats  alone  keeping  in 
pairs  and  hopping  along  hand  in  hand. 

It  was  fully  nine  o'clock  when  all  were  ready,  and  a 
belated  street  band  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  avenue 
began  to  play  "Dancing  in  the  Barn." 

"  How  lucky  !  "  said  the  Dream  Fox.  "  It  is  nice  to 
have  music  to  begin  by,  but  after  a  little  while  it 
doesn't  matter,  for  every  one  dances  his  own  way. 

"  Now  !  One,  two,  three,  four,  —  face  to  face,  skip 
—  hop !  Across  the  hall,  and  upstairs  to  the  very  top, 
and  down  again." 

The  Skunks  immediately  skipped  forward,  leading 
the  way  as  an  advance  guard,  waving  their  tails  over 
their  heads,  the  procession  following  merrily.  Strange 
to  say,  however,  all  this  multitude  of  prancing  hoofs 
and  paws  made  no  sound. 

"  Why  didn't  they  wait  for  us  ?  "  gasped  a  Walrus, 
who  had  been  all  this  time  trying  to  get  out  of  his  case, 
to  a  Seal,  who  was  fanning  himself  with  his  flippers. 

"  What  good  would  that  do  ?  "  said  the  Sea  Lion ;  "  we 
couldn't  climb  up  all  those  stairs  and  get  down  again 
before  daylight.  Suppose  we  slide  down  this  flight  to 
the  basement ;    perhaps   we  can  find  some   water  and 


A   FOUR-FOOTED   DANCE  411 

then  we  can  go  in  swimming."  Then  they  all  flopped 
off;  and  yon  would  have  expected  them  to  leave  great 
wavy  marks  in  the  dust  on  the  floor,  but  they  did  not. 

At  twelve  o'clock  the  procession  came  downstairs 
again  and  ended  by  an  elaborate  breakdown,  danced  by 
the  Polar,  Barren  Ground,  Black,  and  Grizzly  Bears; 
this  was  followed  by  a  grand  chain,  hands  all  round. 
Then  the  animals  were  allowed  to  amuse  themselves 
until  the  signal  "  back  to  cases  "  should  be  given. 

"  It  does  not  seem  much  like  spring,''  said  the  Moose 
to  the  Caribou.  "  I'm  wearing  my  old  horns  yet,  and 
I  do  not  see  a  single  green  leaf." 

"  Hush  !  "  said  the  Dream  Fox.  "  The  Wise  Men  say 
it  is  spring." 

Meanwhile,  the  Foxes  and  the  Civet  Cats  were  roam- 
ing around  the  bird  rooms  trying  to  coax  the  fat  Ducks 
and  Grouse  to  come  for  a  walk.  But  the  birds  seemed 
neither  to  see  nor  hear  them,  while  the  Weasels  and 
Minks  licked  their  lips,  longingly  but  vainly,  as  they 
gazed  at  the  trays  of  eggs. 

The  Bats  tried  to  hang  themselves  up  in  dark  cor- 
ners, but  found  the  ceiling  too  smooth;  and  the  Wood- 
chucks  and  Beavers  who  essayed  to  burrow  holes  in  the 
floor  were  equally  unsuccessful.  The  Possums  and 
Coons  went  down  to  the  wood  room  and  tried  to  reach 
some  fine  tree-trunks  in  search  of  likely  holes  for  homes; 
while  the  Mountain  Goat  and  Bighorn  practised  mountain 
climbing  by  running  up  and  sliding  down  the  bannisters  ; 
and  the  Rats  and  Mice  dulled  their  teeth  in  trying  to 
gnaw  holes  in  the  iron  doors. 

During  this  time,  the  Walrus,  Sea  Lion,  and  Seal, 
who  had  flopped  easily  enough  doivnstairs,  were  mak- 


412  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

ing  frantic  efforts  to  haul  themselves  up  again.  For, 
£t  the  first  corner,  the  Walrus  had  come  face  to  face 
with  one  of  his  enemies  from  the  North,  an  Eskimo 
chief,  harpoon  in  hand,  ready  to  charge,  while  close  by 
was  a  kyack,  or  hunting  canoe,  covered  with  the  skin 
of,  perhaps,  the  Walrus'  own  brother. 

The  night  wore  on ;  fog  had  settled  over  the  city, 
hiding  the  streets  and  the  moon  —  the  fog  of  an  early 
spring  morning. 

"  How  I  should  like  to  go  out  and  breathe  that  wet 
air !  "  said  the  Moose,  wistfully,  flapping  his  big  ears. 
"  Me,  too,"  sighed  the  Beaver,  sitting  up  to  listen. 
"What  was  that?" 

"Toot — toot — t-o-o-t !  "  shrieked  a  whistle  from  the 
long-legged  railroad  on  the  avenue. 

"  Hark  !  "  bellowed  the  Bison,  his  nostrils  quivering, 
as  he  panted  with  fear.  "  Hark  !  do  you  hear  that  cry, 
the  voice  of  the  Iron  Horse  ?  It  was  such  a  cry  that 
gave  the  signal  for  my  exile  from  the  plains.  Quick ! 
Back  to  your  places,  Four-footed  Americans  !  " 

The  fog  lifted  as  the  sun  rose,  and  the  Song  Sparrow 

warbled  merrily  in  the  Park,  while  no  one  would  have 

known  that  the  beasts  in  the  Museum  had  ever  left  the 

cases,  unless  the  Dream  Fox  had  whispered  it  to  them. 

***** 

The  morning  after  their  return  from  the  excursion, 
Dodo  and  Nat  were  out  bright  and  early  to  discover 
what  had  happened  in  their  absence. 

"  It  is  spring  even  if  the  wind  does  blow,"  laughed 
Dodo,  holding  her  hat  on.  "  Do  look  at  the  crocuses  on 
the  lawn." 

"  Yes,  it's  spring,  shor  nuff  !  "  exclaimed  Rod,  coming 


A    FOUR-FOOTED  DANCE  413 

from  the  kitchen  door.  "  I've  got  suthin'  you  won't 
like  to  hear,  to  tell  yer,  and  suthin'  yer  will  like,  to 
show  yer,  if  yer  come  right  down  to  the  barns." 

"  Mother  !  Daddy  !  Uncle  !  "  called  Dodo,  rushing 
into  the  house  a  few  moments  later.  "What  do  you 
think  Billy  Coon  has  done  but  run  away,  and  Rod  says 
he  won't  come  back,  because  it's  spring  and  he's  gone  to 
the  woods  to  find  a  mate  and  hire  a  house.  What  else 
do  you  think  has  happened  too?  I  can't  wait  to  give 
you  three  guesses.  Daisy  has  a  beautiful  little  calf,  and 
it's  a  lovely  mousy  color,  with  great  eyes  like  a  Deer. 
Please  may  I  name  her  Clover?  Rod  says  if  she  lives 
to  grow  up,  she  will  be  a  fine  cow  and  give  as  buttery 
milk  as  Daisy.  Yes  ?  Then  I'll  go  back  right  away 
and  tell  her  what  her  name  is,"  and  Dodo  skipped  down 
the  walk,  singing,  "M — mammals;  m  —  milk!" 


MADDER   FOR  CLIMBING   THE   FAMILY   TREE 
;TH   AMERICAN   MAMMALS 

ORDER    OF    POUCHED    MAMMALS 

Marsupialia 

Family  Didelphia 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  One) 

The  females  of  this  family  carry 
their  young,  when  first  born,  in  a 
pouch  on  the  lower  part  of  the  abdomen.  They  have  four 
handlike  feet,  and  a  tail  which  is  used  like  a  hand  (pre- 
hensile, the  Wise  Men  call  this  sort  of  tail).  These  animals 
live  on  the  ground  and  in  trees.  They  are  both  flesh,  fruit, 
and  insect  eaters. 

Virginia  Opossum Didelphis  virginiana. 

Length  of  body,  17  inches  ;  tail,  11-12  inches. 


ORDER   OF   SEA   COWS 
Sirenia 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Two) 

Family  of  Manatees 
Manatidse 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  One) 

Clumsy  animals  of  southern  rivers,  feeding  upon  water 
plants. 

American  Manatee Manatus  americanus. 

Length,  8-10  feet. 
415 


416  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

ORDER   OF   WHALES,    PORPOISES,    DOLPHINS 

Cetacea 

(From  Cetus  and  Ketos,  the  Latin  and  Greek  words  for 
Whale,  — Whale  meaning  roller.)  All  of  this  order  live  on 
animal  food  and  are  helpless  on  land.  One  species,  the 
Killer  Whale,  eats  other  warm-blooded  animals. 

Family  of  True  Whales 
Balasnidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Seventeen) 

Has  plates  of  baleen,  the  horny  fibre  known  as  whale- 
bone, growing  from  its  palate.     Feeds  on  Sea  mollusks. 

Bowhead  Whale Balcsna  mysticetus. 

Length,  45-50  feet. 

Finback  Whale Balcenoptera  musculus. 

Length,  65-70  feet. 

Family  of  Sperm  Whales 
Physeteridae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Two) 

This  family  lives  on  squids  and  cuttlefish,  among  other 
things.  It  yields  the  perfume  called  ambergris.  Sperma- 
ceti, a  lardy  substance  used  in  making  candles,  is  found  in 
a  great  cavity  in  the  skull.  The  fat  blubber,  which  covers 
the  body  under  the  skin,  making  it  easy  for  the  Whale  to 
float,  yields  sperm  oil. 

Cachelot,  or  Common  Sperm  Whale  .     Physeter  macrocepha/us. 

Length,  55-00  feet. 

Family  of  Dolphins 
Delphinidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Twenty-eight) 

Common  Porpoise Phocaena  phoccsna. 

Length,  4^  feet. 


LADDER  417 

(Porpoise  means  Sea  Hog,  a  name  relating  to  the  clumsy 
shape  and  small  piglike  eyes  of  the  animal.) 

Dolphin Lagenorhynchus  acutus. 

Length,  10-15  feet. 

ORDER    OF   HOOFED   QUADRUPEDS 

Ungulata 
Ground  animals,  living  chiefly  on  vegetable  diet,  a  few 
sometimes  taking  animal  food. 

Division  I 

(None  are  natives  here) 

Toes  one,  three,  or  five,  ending  in  hoofs.  The  Rhinoceros 
belongs  here  ;  also  the  Horse  and  Ass,  both  having  one  toe, 
turned  into  a  broad  hoof.  At  the  present  day  we  have  no 
native  wild  horses,  those  that  rove  the  plains  being  the  chil- 
dren of  emigrants. 

Division  II 

Hoofed  toes,  even,  two  or  four.     Horns,  when  present,  in 

pairs. 

A 

Omnivora 

Eaters  of  both  animal  and  vegetable  food. 

Family  of  Peccaries 
Dicotylidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Two) 

Front  foot  of  four  toes,  like  the  domestic  pig ;  three  toes 
on  hind  foot. 

Collared  Peccary Dicoty/es  angulatus. 

Length,  3  feet, 

B 
Ruminantia 

Cud-chewing  vegetable  eaters. 
2e 


418  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Deer  Family 
Cervidas 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Nine) 

Males  (and  in  one  species  the  females)  having  antlers  that 
are  shed  annually. 

American  Deer Dorce/aphus  americanus. 

Height  at  shoulder,  3  feet. 

Elk  or  Wapiti Cervus  canadensis. 

Height  at  shoulder,  5  feet. 

Moose  (Elk  of  Europe) A/ces  alces. 

Height  at  shoulder,  6  feet. 

Caribou  or  Reindeer Rangifer  caribou. 

Height  at  shoulder,  4  feet. 

Antelope  Family 
Antilocapridae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  One) 

Nearly  related  to  the  Beef  Family,  but  having  pronged 
horns,  shed  annually. 

Pronghorn,  Prong-horned  Antelope  .     .     Antilocapra  americana. 

Height  at  shoulder,  3  feet. 

Beef  or  Meat  Family 
Bovidas 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Five) 

All  the  members  of  this  family  are  good  for  food.  Both 
males  and  females  have  hollow  horns  without  branches, 
which  are  never  shed.  The  horns  of  the  males  are  gen- 
erally very  much  larger  than  those  of  the  females. 

Bighorn  or  Mountain  Sheep Ovis  cervina. 

Height  at  shoulder,  3£  feet. 

Mountain  Goat Oreamnos  montana. 

Height  at  shoulder,  2 \  feet. 


LADDER  419 

Musk  Ox  (really  a  big  sheep)      ....     Ovibos  moschatus. 
Height  at  shoulder,  A\  feet. 

Males  and  females  Avith  horns  nearly  equal  in  size. 

American  Bison,  or  Buffalo Bison  bison. 

Height  at  shoulder,  5|-G  feet. 

THE  ORDER  OF  GNAWERS 
Rodentia 

The  largest  and  most  widely  distributed  group  of  Mam- 
mals, found  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  More  than  nine 
hundred  have  been  named,  and  new  ones  are  constantly 
being  found. 

These  gnawers  are  mostly  small  animals,  with  four  strong, 
cutting  teeth,  living  on  or  under  the  surface  of  the  ground 
or  in  trees,  a  few  being  expert  swimmers.     They  are  chiefly 
vegetable  eaters,  though  a  few  prefer  animal  food. 

Family  of  Squirrels 
Sciuridae 

(More  than  Sixty  North  American  Species) 

Sciurus  and  Sciuropterus  —  Tree  Squirrels 
Meaning  those  who  "  sit  in  the  shadow  of  the  tail."    Good- 
sized  ears,  climbing  feet,  the  front  having  four  and  the  back 
five  sharp  long  claws.     Sometimes  having  pouched  cheeks 
for  carrying  food,  and,  usually,  long,  plumy  tails. 

Flying  Squirrel Sciuropterus  volans. 

Length  of  body,  0*  inches  ;  tail,  5  inches. 

Red  Squirrel Sciurus  hudsonicus. 

Length  of  body,  7-|  inches  ;  tail,  6-J  inches. 

Gray  Squirrel Sciurus  caro/inensis  ieucotis. 

Length  of  body,  10^  inches  ;  tail,  10£  inches. 
Fox  Squirrel Sciurus  niger  cinereus. 

Length  of  body,  13  inches;  tail,  13|  inches. 


420  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Tamias  —  Ground  Squirrels  —  Chipmunks 
Smaller  and  lighter  than  the  true  squirrels,  with  the  back 
striped. 

Chipmunk Tamias  striatus. 

Length  of  body,  G  inches  ;  tail,  4-£  inches. 

Arctomys  —  Woodchucks 
With  heavy  body,  short  ears  and  tail ;  cheek  pouches  im- 
perfect or  none.     Gnawing  teeth  very  broad  and  strong. 

Woodchuck Arctomys  monax. 

Length  of  body,  14|-  inches  ;  tail,  7  inches. 

Cynomys  —  Prairie  Dogs 
Intermediate  in  size  between   \Yoodchucks  and  Spermo- 
philes.     Short  ears ;  small  cheek  pouches ;  five  clawed  front 
feet.     Live   in  burrows  in  large  communities  and  feed  on 
prairie  grass. 

Prairie  Dog Cynomys  ludovicianus. 

Length  of  body,  13  inches ;  tail,  4  inches. 

Spermophilus  —  Spermophiles 
Rather  small    and  slender,  tail  variable.     Ample  cheek 
pouches  ;  four  front  toes.     Belong  to  prairies  and  dry,  open 
plains ;  live  in  deep  burrows  and  store  up  food  for  winter  use. 

Rock  Spermophile      ....     Spermophilus  grammurus. 

Length  of  body,  13  inches  ;  tail,  D  inches. 
Striped  Spermophile ....     Spermophilus  tridecemlineatus. 

Length  of  body,  7  inches  ;  tail,  A\  inches. 

Beaver  Family 
Castoridae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  One) 

Heavy  skull ;  powerful  teeth ;   strong  front  claws.     Tail 
flat  and  tongue-like.     The  best  builder  among  Mammals. 

Beaver Castor  canadensis. 

Length  of  body,  2  feet ;  tail,  10  inches. 


LADDER  421 

Family  of  Rats  and  Mice 
Muridae 

(Nearly  Two  Hundred  North  American  Species) 

Clumsy,  thickly  furred  body ;  small  ears ;  short  tail ;  small 
feet  with  furry  soles. 

White  Lemming Dicrostonyx  torquatus. 

Length  of  body,  5  inches ;  tail,  1  inch. 

Heavy  animal,  head  set  close  to  shoulders.  Fore  limbs 
with  four  toes  and  a  small  thumb ;  long  claws  for  scratching 
and  digging  ;  five  webbed  toes  on  hind  feet ;  compact  scaly 
tail ;  soft  under-fur  with  stiff  hairs  overlying  it.  Animal 
secretes  a  musky  odor,  from  which  it  takes  its  name. 

Muskrat Fiber  zibethicus. 

Length  of  body,  11*  inches;  tail,  11  inches. 

Hats  and  mice  —  vermin.  Large  ears ;  bright  eyes  ;  long, 
naked  tails  ;  no  cheek  pouches ;  fur  soft.  Mostly  vegetable 
feeders,  but  some  eat  insects  and  occasionally  other  animal 
food. 

Field  Mouse Microtus  pennsylvanicus. 

Length  of  body,  4|  inches  ;  tail,  If  inches. 

Deer  or  White-footed  Mouse    .     .     .     Peromyscus  leucopus. 

Length  of  body,  3|-  inches ;  tail,  3*  inches. 

Cotton  Rat Sigmodon  hispidus. 

Length  of  body,  6  inches  ;  tail,  4  inches. 

Wood  or  Pack  Rat Neotoma  floridana. 

Length  of  body,  8  inches  ;  tail,  5*  inches. 

Marsh  Rat Oryzomys  palustris. 

Length  of  body,  0  inches  ;  tail,  3*  inches. 

Gopher  Family 
Geomyidag 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Twenty  to  Thirty) 

Burrowing  animals,  having  large  cheek  pockets  that  open 
outside  ;  wide  cutting  teeth;  small  eyes  and  ears  ;  short  legs. 


422  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Pouched,  or  Mole  Gopher Geomys  bursarius. 

Length  of  body,  8-J  inched  ;  tail,  3  inches. 

Gray  Pocket  Gopher Thomonys  talpoides. 

Length  of  body,  7  inches  ;  tail,  2\  inches. 

Family  of  Pouched  Eats  and  Mice 
Heteromyidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Thirty  to  Forty; 

Kangaroo  Rat Perodipus  richardsoni. 

Length  of  body,  5-|-  inches  ;  tail,  (Y\  inches. 

Pocket  Mouse Perognathus  paradoxus. 

Length  of  body,  4\  inches  ;  tail,  3|  inches. 

Jumping  Mouse  Family 
Zapodidas 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Four  to  Five) 

Ground  animals,  with  long  springy  hind  legs  and  five-toed 

feet. 

Jumping  Mouse Zapus  hudsonius. 

Length  of  body,  3  inches  ;  tail,  5  inches. 

Porcupine  Pamily 
Erethizontidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Two) 

Of  chuid  _xi(3;  legs  of  even  length ;  back  covered 
with  stout  quills,  almost  hidden  by  long  hairs ;  short, 
stumpy  tail.     A  vegetable  eater. 

Canada  Porcupine Erethizon  dorsatus. 

Length  of  body,  2*-  feet ;  tail,  8}  inches. 

Pika  Family 
Ochotonidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Two) 

No  tail ;  short  ears  ;  legs  of  equal  length. 

Pika,  Little  Chief,  or  Whistling  Hare  .     .     Ochotona  princeps. 
Length  of  body,  7^  inches  ;  no  tail. 


LADDER  423 

Hake  ok  Rabbit  Family 
Leporidae.     Leapers 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Twelve  or  More) 

Long  ears ;  long  hind  legs ;  short,  upturned,  tail ;  five 
front  and  four  hind  toes,  with  hairy  pads.  Vegetable 
eaters ;  living  in  forms  or  burrows. 

Wood  Hare  (or  Gray  Rabbit) Lepus  sylvaticus. 

Length  of  body,.  16  inches  ;  tail,  2\  inches. 

Varying  Hare Lepus  americanus. 

Length  of  body,  20  inches  ;  tail,  2\  inches. 

Jack  Rabbit Lepus  melanotis. 

Length  of  body,  2  feet ;  tail,  3  inches. 
Marsh  Hare Lepus  palustris. 

Length  of  body,  17  inches  ;  tail  If  inches. 

ORDER   OF   FLESH  EATERS 
Carnivora 

Having  four  long,  pointed,  curved,  canine  (doglike)  teeth, 
with  small,  pointed  incisors,  or  cutting  teeth,  between ;  never 
less  than  four  toes  on  each  foot.  The  animals  in  this  order 
are  chiefly  meat  eaters,  living  on  the  flesh  of  warm-blooded 
animals.  Some  individuals  need  a  ^i^ed  diet,  and  eat  vege- 
tables liberally. 

If  we  expect  to  remember  their  different  habits,  we  must 
divide  this  order  into :  I.  Land  Livers ;  II.  Water  Men  (see 
page  427). 

Division  I 

TRUE  FLESH-EATING  LAND  MAMMALS 

Toes  sharply  clawed.  In  some  individuals  the  claws  can 
be  drawn  back  and  concealed,  to  keep  them  sharp  and  free 
from  wear  and  tear.  (We  see  this  when  the  house  cat 
sheathes  her  claws.)  Some  of  this  group  are  sole  walkers, 
and  some  step  only  on  the  toe  pads. 


424  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Cat  Family 
Felidee 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Ten) 

Our  native  Cats  are  flesh  eaters,  living  in  solitary  pairs, 
never  hunting  in  packs.  They  wear  soft,  thick  fur ;  have 
round  heads  ;  ears  of  medium  size,  either  round  or  pointed ; 
large  eyes,  the  pupil  (the  dark  spot  in  centre)  having  the 
power  to  contract  or  expand ;  rough  tongues,  covered  with 
sharp  prickles  ;  and  very  strong  claws. 

Puma,  Panther,  or  Mountain  Lion  of  West    .     Felis  concofor. 
Length  of  body,  5  feet ;  tail,  3  feet.     ^subspecies) 

Ocelot,  or  Tiger  Cat Felis  pardalis. 

Length  of  body,  3  feet ;  tail,  15  inches. 

Wildcat,  or  Lynx Lynx  rufus. 

Length  of  body,  2|  feet ;  tail,  1\  inches. 

Dog  Family 
Canidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Seven  or  Eight) 

We  have  no  purely  wild  dogs  in  North  America.  The 
Indian  and  Eskimo  Dogs  are  mongrels.  But  we  have  both 
Wolves  and  Foxes,  which  are  the  house  dog's  cousins. 
These  have  long  jaws ;  limbs  of  moderate  length ;  short 
feet,  with  five  fore  and  four  hind  toes ;  blunt  claws,  which 
they  cannot  draw  in ;  and  tails  of  various  lengths,  bushy. 
They  are  more  or  less  sociable  animals,  hunting  in  packs. 

Wolves 
Coyote,  or  Prairie  Wolf Cam's  latrans. 

Length  of  body,  3  feet ;  tail,  1*  inches. 

Timber,  or  Gray  Wolf Cam's  nubilis 

Length  of  body,  44  feet;  tail,  \\  feet. 


LADDER  425 

Foxes 
Gray  Fox Urocyon  cinereo-argenteus. 

Length  of  body,  2\  feet ;  tail,  14  inches. 
Red,  Black,  or  Silver  Fox     .     .     .    Vulpes  pennsylvanica. 
Length  of  body,  2\  feet ;  tail,  1\  feet. 

Arctic  Fox Vulpes  lagopus. 

Length  of  body,  2  feet;  tail,  14  inches. 

Bear  Family 
Ursidas 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Six  to  Eight) 

Large,  broad  mammals,  with  soft,  shaggy  fur ;  round, 
hairy  ears  of  medium  size ;  five-toed  feet,  with  naked  soles 
and  fixed  claws ;  short  tails.  Can  walk  upright.  Prefer  a 
mixed  diet. 

Black  or  Brown  Bear Ursus  americanus. 

Height  at  shoulder,  2  feet  10  inches. 
Grizzly  Bear Ursus  h or rib i lis. 

Height  at  shoulder,  4  feet. 

Polar  Bear Thalarctos  maritimus. 

Height  at  shoulder,  4  feet. 

Baccoon  Family 
Procyonidze 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Three) 

Little  cousins  of  the  Bear,  resembling  both  the  Bear  and 
Cat.  Broad  head,  pointed  muzzle ;  stands  on  the  sole  of 
the  foot ;  curved,  pointed  claws ;  long  tail,  covered  with 
ringed  fur.     Bur  on  body  thick  and  soft. 

Raccoon Procyon  lotor. 

Length  of  body,  21  feet ;  tail,  11  inches. 

Cacomistle,  or  Civet  Cat Bassaricus  flavus. 

Length  of  body,  1|  feet ;  tail,  14  feet. 


426  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

Family  of  Little  Fur  Bearers 
Mustelidze 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Twenty  to  Thirty) 

A  large  family  of  small  and  medium  sized  fur  bearers, 
of  great  commercial  value.  Grouped  according  to  their  teeth 
and  claws. 

American  Otter Lutra  canadensis. 

Length  of  body,  2\  feet ;  tail,  1\  feet. 

Broad,  flat  head ;  close,  short  fur ;  long  tail ;  round  feet, 
with  webbed  toes  and  small,  blunt  claws.  Aquatic  and  fish- 
eating. 

*  * 

Common  Skunk Mephitis  mephitica. 

Length  of  body,  1^  feet ;  tail,  13  inches. 

Little  Striped  Skunk Spilogale  putorius. 

Length  of  body,  11  feet ;  tail,  1\  inches. 

Small  head;  small,  round  ears;  long,  plumy  tail;  body 
long,  covered  with  black  and  white  fur  of  good  quality. 
Burrowing  animals,  living  on  mixed  food.  They  secrete  an 
offensive  odor,  which  they  use  as  a  weapon  of  defence. 

,*, 

*  * 

American  Sable,  or  Pine  Marten     .     .     .     Mustela  americana. 

Length  of  body,  1\  feet ;  tail,  10  inches. 

Fisher Mustela  pennanti. 

Length  of  body,  2  feet ;  tail,  14  inches. 

Living  among  the  trees  of  rocky  woods.  Savage  animals 
for  their  size ;  agile  climbers ;  great  destro}rers  of  small 
gnawers.     Fur  soft  and  beautiful. 

*** 
Weasel,  or  Ermine Putorius  noveboracensis. 

Length  of  body,  11  inches  ;  tail,  7  inches. 

Mink Putorius  vison. 

Length  of  body,  1^-  feet ;  tail,  9  inches. 


LADDER  427 

Small  animals,  with  long  bodies  and  a  snake-like  motion 
in  moving;  blood-thirsty,  cunning,  great  destroyers  of  poul- 
try and  eggs.  The  northern  Weasels  are  brown  in  summer, 
but  turn  white  in  winter,  and  are  called  Ermines.  The 
Mink  remains  brown  all  the  year. 

* 

*  * 

Wolverine Gulo  luscus. 

Length  of  body,  3  feet ;  tail,  14  inches. 

Stout  body,  resembling  a  small  Bear;  large  feet,  with 
curved,  sharp  claws ;  soles  between  pads,  covered  with  stout 
hair ;   small  eyes ;    thick,  bushy  tail ;   fur  rather  long  and 

coarse.     A  very  savage  beast. 

* 

*  * 

Badger Taxidea  americana. 

Length  of  body,  21  inches  to  2  feet ;  tail,  7  inches. 

Wide  head  ;  stout,  flat  body ;  short  tail. 

Division  II 
flesh  eaters,  living  both  on  land  and  in  the  water 

Seals  and  Walruses 
Pinnipedia.  (Having  pinnate  or  fin-like  feet.) 
These  mammals  have  their  limbs  more  or  less  hidden  in 
the  skin  of  the  body,  in  the  shape  of  five-fingered  flippers 
arranged  for  moving  through  the  water.  They  have  round 
heads,  soft,  beautiful  eyes,  clumsy  bodies,  and  short  tails. 
All  of  this  group  spend  most  of  their  time  in  the  water, 
living  on  marine  food,  and  only  coming  on  land  for  a  few 
months  in  summer  to  bring  forth  their  young. 

Sea  Lion  Family 
Otariidse 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Four) 

Small  ears,  round  head,  and  large  eyes;  long  neck,  and 
whiskers  like  seaAveed.     They  walk  clumsily  on  all  fours, 


428  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

the  limbs  looking  like  feet  joined  to  the  body  without  legs. 
They  are  covered  all  over  with  stiff  hair,  and  in  some  species 
there  is  a  soft  under-fur,  which  is  the  familiar  "sealskin" 
of  commerce.  This  is  wrongly  named,  as  it  is  the  pelt  of  the 
Sea  Bear,  and  not  of  a  true  Seal.  Male  much  larger  than 
the  female. 

Sea  Bear,  Fur  Seal Cal/otaria  ursina. 

Length  of  male,  1\  feet ;  female,  4^  feet. 

Sea  Lion Zalophus  californicus. 

Length  of  male,  15  feet ;  female,  8-9  feet. 

Walrus  Family 
Odobenidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Two) 

Walrus  is  a  word  adapted  from  the  Russian,  meaning 
Whale  Horse.  Animals  of  Arctic  seas,  measuring  10-13  feet 
from  nose  to  rump.  Bulky  and  thick,  heaviest  about  shoul- 
ders, and  sloping  toward  the  rump.  Thick,  wrinkled  skin 
covered  with  rough,  yellowish  hair  which  wears  almost  en- 
tirely off  when  the  animal  is  old.  They  have  a  pair  of  long 
tusks  which  aid  in  fighting,  climbing,  and  digging  their  shell- 
fish food.  The  Walrus  is  of  commercial  value  on  account 
of  its  oil,  hide,  and  tusks. 

Atlantic  Walrus Odobenus  rosmarus. 

Length,  12  feet  3  inches. 

Pacific  Walrus Odobenus  obesus. 

Length,  12-14  feet. 

Family  of  True  Seals 
Phocidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Nine) 

The  true  Seal  is  the  most  water-loving  of  the  group.  Its 
hind  flippers  drag  uselessly  when  on  land,  where  it  moves 


LADDER  429 

by  jerking  the  body  along  with  its  fore  feet.     It  is  hairy, 
having  no  under-fur. 

Harbor  Seal Phoca  vitulina. 

Length,  4  feet. 

ORDER   OF   INSECT   EATERS 
Insectivora 

Chiefly  small  burrowing  animals,  having  glands,  where 
their  fore  legs  join  the  body,  that  secrete  an  offensive  odor 
which  protects  them  from  the  attacks  of  flesh  eaters.  It  is 
not  entirely  proven  that  this  order  lives  wholly  on  insect 
food. 

The  Shrew  Family 

Soricidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Twenty) 

Monse-like  heads ;  bodies  covered  with  hair.  Shrews  live 
in  shallow  burrows,  and  their  young  are  blind  and  naked  at 
birth. 

Short-tailed  Shrew Blarina  brevicauda. 

Length  of  body,  3|  inches  ;  tail,  1  inch. 
Least  Shrew Sorex  personatus. 

Length  of  body,  2\  inches  ;  tail,  1^  inches. 

Mole  Family 
Talpidae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Eight) 

Common  Mole Sea/ops  aquaticus. 

Length  of  body,  41  inches  ;  tail,  1  inch. 

Having  a  simple  pointed  nose;  front  feet  broad  and 
shovel-like ;  back  feet  webbed ;  short,  naked  tail. 

Star-nosed  Mole Condylura  cristata. 

Length  of  body,  3|  inches  ;  tail,  3  inches. 

End  of  snout  surrounded  by  thread-like  appendages, 
arranged  in  the  shape  of  a  star.      Tail  long  and  slightly 


430  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS 

hairy.      Moles  live  in  burrows  which  are  reached  by  long 
tunnels. 

THE   ORDER   WING-HANDED   MAMMALS 
Chiroptera 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Eighteen) 

Fore  limbs,  or  arms,  much  enlarged  and  forming  mem- 
branous wings ;  hind  limbs  weak.  Faces  and  ears  of  many 
different  shapes  are  found  in  this  order,  which  contains  both 
insect  and  fruit  eaters. 

The  Twilight  Bat  Family 
Vespertilionidae 

Hoary  Bat Lasiurus  cinereus. 

Length  of  body,  5  inches  ;  spread  of  wings,  14  inches. 

Red  Bat Lasiurus  borealis. 

Length  of  body,  4  inches  ;  spread  of  wings,  12  inches. 

Little  Brown  Bat Myiotis  subulatus. 

Length  of  body,  3J  inches  ;  spread  of  wings,  10  inches. 

Mouse  or  House  Bat  Family 
Emballonuridae 

(Number  of  North  American  Species,  Three) 

House  Bat Nyctinomus  brasilensis. 

Length  of  body,  3|  inches;  spread  of  wings,  \1\  inches. 

ORDER   OF   PRIMATES 

Man  Family 

Hominidae 

The  North  American  Indian     .     .     Homo  sapiens  americanus. 

Height,  5  feet  10  inches. 

This  is  the  Indian  race  of  the  United  States,  and  does  not 
include  the  Eskimo. 


INDEX   OF  ENGLISH   NAMES 


The  Latin  names  will  be  found  under  head  of  "  Ladder  for  Climbing  the  Family  Tree 
of  North  American  Mammals." 


PAGES 

Antelope 256,  267,  300 

Badger 256,  268 

Bat,  Hoary 399 

Bat,  House 398 

Bat,  Little  Brown    388,  395,  399,  400 

Bat,  Red 399 

Bear,  Black  or  Brown 376,  386 

Bear,  Grizzly 239,  253 

Bear,  Polar 280-282 

Beaver 93,  365-375 

Bighorn 239-243,  300 

Bison 116-136 

Buffalo.    See  Bison. 

Cachelot.     See  Sperm  Whale. 
Cacomistle.     See  Civet  Cat. 

Caribou 207,  275-277,  300 

Chipmunk 57,  360,  361 

Civet  Cat 224-226 

Coyote 256,  267 

Deer,  American 300,  306 

Dolphin 329,  330 

Elk 237,  277,  300-304 

Ermine.    See  Weasel. 

Fisher 187 

Fox,  Arctic 202-204 

Fox,  Gray 201,  202 

Fox,  Red,  Black,  or  Silver 

153,  158,  170,  201,  204,  206 


Gopher,  Gray  Pocket 

Gopher,  Pouched  or  Mole . 

Hare,  Marsh 

Hare,  Varying 

Hare,  Wood 

Hare,  Whistling 


PAGES 

.     345 

.     344 


Lemming,  White. 

Lynx,  Bay 

Lynx,  Canada. . . . 


145-147 
150-152 
143-145 
153,  154 

. . .  336 
...  228 
...     229 


Manatee,  American 321-323 

Marten,  Pine 186, 187 

Mink 184,  185 

Mole,  Common 390-393 

Mole,  Star-nosed 391-393 

Moose 277,  300,  309,  319 

Mountain  Goat 239,  300 

Mountain  Lion.     See  Puma. 

Mountain  Sheep 239,  243,  300 

Mouse,  Deer  or  White-footed   91,  338 

Mouse,  Meadow 331 

Mouse,  Pocket 346,347 

Mouse,  Jumping 346-348 

Musk  Ox 278,279,300 

Muskrat 48,  49,  336-338 


Ocelot 228 

Opossum 321,  376,  386 

Otter 177-180 


Panther.     See  Puma. 
Peccary,  Collared- . . . 


89,90 


431 


432 


INDEX   OF  ENGLISH  NAMES 


PAGES 

Pika 153,  151 

Porpoise,  Common 328,  329 

Porcupine,  Canada  ...     161,  163,  194 

Prairie  Dog 256,  267 

Puma 234,  237 

Rabbits 140,  143 

Rabbit,  Gray 143 

Rabbit,  Jack 147,  150 

Raccoon 190,  222 

Rat,  Cotton 339 

Rat,  Kangaroo 345,  346 

Rat,  Marsli 340 

Rat,  Pack 340,  341 

Rat,  Wood 340-342 

Sable,  American.    See  Pine  Marten. 

Sea  Bear 286 

Sea  Lion 293 

Seal,  Fur 286 

Seal,  Harbor 294 

Shrew,  Least 395 

Shrew,  Short-tailed 393 


PAGES 

Skunk,  Common 176,  180,  181 

Skunk,  Little  Striped 180 

Spermophile,    Rock    or    Line- 
tailed 363,364 

Spermophile,  Striped 363 

Squirrels 350 

Squirrel,  Flying 57,  352-355 

Squirrel,  Fox 359 

Squirrel,  Gray 56,  357 

Squirrel,  Red' 46,  57,  355-357 

Walrus,  Atlantic 283 

Walrus,  Pacific 283-286 

Wapiti.     See  Elk. 

Weasel 182,  183 

Whale,  Bowhead 324-326 

Whale,  Finback 324-327 

Whale,  Sperm 324 

Wildcat 227,  230-235 

Wolf,  Gray  or  Timber 212-222 

Wolf,  Prairie.     See  Coyote. 

Wolverine 188,  189 

Woodchuck 44,  159 


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INSECTS. 

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